(continuation of part 2)
III. e) The Mobius FF x FFVII collaboration
Alright, back to our suspension world-hopping! Let’s visit the realm of Mobius FF, —more specifically, the collaboration between Mobius FF and FFVII—, where I found the most substantial evidence for my theory.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the Mobius FF (MFF) world and games, let’s begin with a bit of a summary of the parts relevant to us. The story takes place in a world called Palamecia, to which people from other worlds are inexplicably summoned. The vast majority of those who are brought there don’t remember anything from their worlds of origin or their lives before Palamecia except their names: these amnesiac people are called Blanks. The main character is Wol, accompanied by a guiding fairy of Palamecia named Echo. Echo knows a lot about the mechanisms of Palamecia, as she’s tied to the realm. The leader of this world is Vox, a being who manifests only as a voice. The first thing all Blanks remember before they wake in Palamecia is Vox telling them the rules of the realm. Incidentally, the crystals of the MFF world are teleportation crystals.
III. e) i. Devs’ Statements
Let’s review some of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration devs’ statements before diving into its story.
For both the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration and the Remake project, Kitase took on the role of producer while Nojima supervised the screenplay and wrote the scenario. The project leader was none other than the Remake trilogy’s Hamaguchi, who told a SE interviewer the following:

“We would love for you to play the [MFF x FFVII] collaboration event as you look forward to [Remake’s] release” (“Celebration of the Overseas Release of the Steam Version and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Collaboration Event”, Square Enix).

He later hints at the collaboration’s storyline:

“This collaboration is focused on Cloud, so the other characters will not make an appearance. Players will join Cloud, who has gone astray in Palamecia, on his adventures and see how the story unfolds based on his decisions. Content-wise, FINAL FANTASY VII fans will surely become fraught with emotion as events unfold in-game (laughs).”

Kitase concurs on the emotional aspect of the collaboration in the same interview:

“When it comes to the story, I seek two things– ‘mystery’ and ‘[…] emotional impact’.”

Clearly, fans of FFVII are supposed to react emotionally to the events of the collaboration. With these statements in mind to give us perspective, we can get into the plot points relevant to our analysis. MFF x FFVII Remake comes in two parts, the relevant plot points of which I will describe and analyze one at a time.
III. e) ii. Eclipse Contact
1) Fact-Finding
Part one of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event is called Eclipse Contact. It came out in 2017 on Aerith’s birthday, February 7th, and its release campaign ran until March. In Eclipse Contact, Palamecia welcomes someone new: Cloud Strife appears in the realm with very little recollection of his core world of FFVII.
Cloud isn’t a Blank, since he recalls the mako reactors in Midgar upon his arrival in Palamecia, and also remembers that he was hired by Avalanche to blow them up:

“Echo: How did you end up in Palamecia?

Cloud: I… That day... I remember now. A job. I had taken a job. I was hired muscle protecting clients. They wanted to stop the reactor... We used a train to get past security... Was it at night? Something happened... Next thing I knew, I was floating through darkness. Then [I woke up here]”.

This piece of dialogue reveals that Eclipse Contact Cloud’s memories end at the very moment when Avalanche arrives at reactor 1 in OG (disk 1, chapter 1): the very beginning of the game. Consequently, Cloud does not remember anything that happened from the beginning of the OG timeline onwards.
Wol and Echo are intrigued by Cloud’s strange case: non-Blanks rarely arrive in Palamecia. The following text appears on the screen shortly after they meet:

“Perhaps he is not truly who he thinks he is.
Perhaps everything is illusory, a dream.
Only one thing is certain, that he must press on, one step at a time, toward the light that shines from the promised land.”

Just like he did in FFT’s Ivalice, Cloud feels the need to find the Promised Land in MFF x FFVII, despite the fact that he lacks memories of the OG timeline. Though Cloud doesn’t remember anything beyond the train ride to reactor 1, he does remember the Promised Land (at least somewhat). This is odd, given that in OG, Cloud didn’t learn about the Promised Land until several chapters into the game.
Wol and Echo agree to help Cloud figure out why he’s here, since there’s clearly something strange going on with his presence in Palamecia. In fact, Cloud brought Midgar’s mako reactors with him somehow, transplanting them onto the landscape of Palamecia. The group decides to bomb these reactors, following Cloud’s instincts in the hopes that it will jog his memory.
Now for my favorite part. After blowing up another reactor, the group is surprised by the appearance of a crystal. A piano rendition of Aerith’s theme begins. When Wol tries to touch the crystal, something akin to a force field rejects him. When Cloud approaches it, however, the crystal responds to his hand by flashing with light. As it begins to glow, Wol concludes that the crystal is linked to Cloud and Cloud alone. Let’s examine the resulting dialogue:

“Echo: This is the light in your memories. The light of home.

Cloud: Home? But I don’t—

Echo: If you don't remember… then your home is lost to you.

Cloud: Then my memories are gone.

Wol: Do you want to reclaim your past?

Cloud: Not interested... I am what I am now. Not what I was.

Wol: Then tell me… This light. If you can’t remember it, what does it mean to you?

Cloud: It's a warm light... I feel at peace. If this place —home— is as warm and peaceful as this light, then I want to go there.

Echo: You can't go there... Not back to the past.

Cloud: I see.

Echo: But even if you can't go back to the past, you can go forward. If you wish for it strongly enough, the crystal will show you the way. The way to a new world. The way to your Promised Land. […]

Cloud: So... Should [I] take [my] chances and make a wish to this crystal?

Wol: Go ahead. It’s your crystal.

Echo: I should warn you that once you start on this journey, there's no coming back.

Cloud: The past is the past. I want to go to a place where everything is new. I’m ready.“

What follows is a moment I call the wishing scene (13:43-14:34). Cloud closes his eyes and wishes on the crystal. It flashes, and suddenly, rainbow-colored ripples of light appear around it. Aerith’s theme is replaced by a slightly modified version of “Midgar, City of Mako”, the track that plays during the opening cutscene of Remake. You can recreate the modification by listening to “Midgar, City of Mako” from 2:00 to 2:23, then skipping to 3:00 and listening until 3:18. You may recognize the musical motif that kicks off the wishing scene as the Lifestream motif, which has become symbolic of the mysteries of the Remake trilogy, as it often plays during scenes where unexplainable plot deviations from OG occur— more specifically, deviations involving multiverse shenanigans. For instance, it plays during MOTF 4. It also plays in Rebirth after Cloud blocks masamune as Aerith is shown dying anyway.
Cloud disappears with his crystal, after which Echo speaks to Wol about Cloud’s journey:

“Echo: Each person gets the Promised Land they justly deserve, not the one they really need. If you’re a bad person, you go to a bad place. If you expect nothing, you get nothing. Even the journey there makes you look deep within yourself to find out who you really are. Cloud should be facing his own past as we speak. It’s cruel, but necessary. That battle was a long time coming”.

Apparently, at least in the context of this collaboration event, the Promised Land can be a reward or a punishment, depending on which you deserve. Echo explains that Cloud will have to face himself and his past on his way to his Promised Land. This means that the Cloud that appears in Eclipse Contact must next embark on a journey that will confront him with his past, test his mettle, and ultimately lead him to the Promised Land he justly deserves.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
There’s a lot of vital information to dig into here, mostly provided by Echo. She claims that the crystal’s light is linked to Cloud’s memories of home; Cloud has to have known this home in the past, as it could not otherwise exist in his memories. MFF Cloud must be a post-OG Cloud. Unfortunately, Echo indicates that whatever Cloud’s home is, he’s lost both it and his memories of it. Despite this, Cloud describes his home as warm and peaceful, concluding that he wishes to find it. Though Cloud can’t return to the past, Echo tells him that if he wishes it strongly enough, the crystal can guide him toward a new world, where his home and his Promised Land exist in the future. The fact that Aerith’s theme is playing all throughout these descriptions of Cloud’s lost home, his Promised Land and the past that he can’t return to makes it extremely obvious that these concepts all point to Aerith. Aerith is Cloud’s lost home. Wherever Aerith is, that’s his Promised Land. The time spent with Aerith before her loss is the past he tragically can’t return to. You might have clocked the similarities between Eclipse Contact’s mention of Cloud’s lost home and DFF’s mention of Cloud’s lost dream: in both these titles, Cloud’s home and dream are equivalent to his Promised Land. It’s confirmed yet again that Aerith is the one Cloud hopes to return to, just like every soul returns to the Lifestream. At this juncture of my research, I was curious as to why the last thing Cloud remembers before waking in Palamecia is the run-up to the Reactor 1 bombing mission in OG (disk 1, chapter 1). This mystery will have to persist for a while longer.
The alarm bells in your head might’ve been triggered by the mention of the wishing scene’s rainbow ripple effects— and rightfully so. This visual cue has sparked passionate debate in the fandom since its appearances in Rebirth, as seen in these pictures:
Zack Choosing To Get A Cure For Cloud, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating a New World/Timeline
Aerith Pushing Cloud Out of that World/Timeline, Remake Chapter 14
Cloud Blocking Masamune, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating New World/Timeline
You might have read or heard that this rainbow effect signifies that a character has entered another timeline, created a portal to another timeline, created a new timeline or is being shown different timelines. Indeed, whenever the OG timeline is deviated from in a significant way, this effect appears. The pictures above present multiple examples of these shifting realities.
One might propose that the rainbow ripples in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth are unrelated because of the long period between their respective release dates. This long in-between period indeed makes it likelier that the effect was used without forethought in Eclipse Contact, forgotten over the years, and incidentally reused in Rebirth as a plot-important visual cue with no connection to Eclipse Contact. I’m inclined to disagree since the crystal is specifically described as a vessel that can take Cloud “to a new world” by Echo, which is a bit on the nose. Regardless, it’s plausible that there’s no connection. That is, it would be, if the rainbow effect didn’t show up in Remake too.
When the Whispers are finally defeated in chapter 18 of Remake, a burst of the rainbow ripple effects indicate the emergence of multiple worlds, newly freed from the restrictive clutches of fate (1:16:36-1:16:47). Shortly thereafter, Sephiroth takes Cloud to the Edge of Creation and invites him to join forces with him. Cloud refuses, and Sephiroth says the following:

“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it? Let's see.”

The question “What will you do with it?” implies that the answer is unknown, meaning Cloud is no longer bound to the OG timeline by fate: many alternate futures lay ahead. Sephiroth is telling Cloud and the audience that now, the mystery of the Remake trilogy has become “Which future will Cloud bring into existence? Which among the infinite possible timelines will his choices result in?” After pondering this aloud, Sephiroth leaves Cloud alone to consider the rainbow effects in the sky (1:19:23-1:19:36). Because they generally represent alternate or changing timelines, it’s safe to assume that the rainbow ripples here represent the myriad of possible worlds that Cloud’s actions in those seven seconds could generate. After all, Sephiroth was just talking about them, and chapter 18’s description in Remake reads as follows:

“In a world beyond, Sephiroth shows Cloud a vision of the planet seven seconds before its demise. Having strayed from the course destiny set for them, they strike out on a path towards an unknown future."

This explains why the player is shown Cloud staring at those colors in the apocalyptic sky at world’s end, directly after hearing Sephiroth’s cryptic words: those are all the alternate “unknown future” timelines ahead of him, now unravelled from fate. Amongst those rainbow ripples lies the answer to the question “What will you do with [the seven seconds]?”
Given that Remake was released in 2020 and Eclipse Contact came out in 2017, the major story elements of the Remake trilogy —including the eventuality of alternate timelines— had to have been planned out at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: while the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration was being made, Remake was also in production. Also recall that the collaboration event and the Remake trilogy share a codirector in Hamaguchi, a writer in Nojima and a producer in Kitase. Based on all this, it’s more than likely that the rainbow ripples in the Remake trilogy and inEclipse Contact represent the very same thing: alternate worlds and timelines. All this to say that when the rainbow effect appears around the crystal in the Eclipse Contact, it means the crystal is acting as a vessel to another world, just like Echo said.
But that’s not all Echo said: she also mentioned that this other world would take Cloud to his home, to his Promised Land. We’ve already established what that means for Cloud, what it’s meant since two whole decades at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: this crystal will take Cloud to Aerith. So, where exactly did the crystal take Cloud? In what world can he meet Aerith again?
The music that plays during the wishing scene gives us a huge hint. As I noted before, the track playing in the background is a slightly modified version of Remake’s “Midgar, City of Mako”, which plays in the introduction cutscene of Remake. This is a musical cue that the ending of Cloud’s journey in Eclipse Contact and the very beginning of the Remake trilogy are closely related. Add the fact that the devs wanted players to experience this collaboration event before playing Remake, and it becomes undeniable: the crystal that appeared to Cloud in Palamecia —which offers to lead him to his home and Promised Land, meaning to Aerith—, took him to the world of the Remaketrilogy.
Eclipse Contact is huge. The whole crux of my theory lives and dies right here. However, we still have part two of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event to analyze as well as its promotions to look into before I can drop the thesis on you, so bear with me in order to receive the most thorough analysis of all this possible! I want to give you every drop of proof I can!
III. e) ii. MFF x FFVII Remake Fatal Calling
1) Fact-Finding
Fatal Calling came out February 1 of 2018, and its release campaign ended in March. The game opens with a cutscene: Cloud is floating, seemingly unconscious, through a sparkling, green current of light. The current flows into a circle of bright, white light, surrounded by rainbow ripple effects as Cloud is driven toward and into it. An orb floats along with him. The Advent Children theme “The Promised Land” plays, a choir of mournful, aching, mutedly desperate souls engaged in a lamenting prayer. Sephiroth’s voice echoes:

“Sephiroth: It’s time. You may turn your back on the past, lock your memories away. Hide reality beneath a layer of illusion. But destiny will not die so easily. Yes. At memory’s end you may plead for it all to go away. But the past is a curse, binding your soul. It’s time. Wake to your fate. Rise to your destiny.

Cloud: (In a half-conscious grunt) Reunion…

Sephiroth: The light will lead you. Wake to your fate. Rise!”

Sephiroth’s mentions of Cloud hiding under an illusion and repressing his memories are no doubt allusions to Cloud’s past, which was complicated and darkened by Hojo’s experiments. It makes sense, then, that Cloud responds with “Reunion”. Fatal Calling indeed focuses on Cloud’s relationship to his past, his identity and Sephiroth. Everything involving Nibelheim —where everything started—, Sephiroth’s manipulation, and Hojo’s experiments are on the table. Also noteworthy if not out of place is Sephiroth’s evocation of fate.
Cloud enters a battle with Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, who are surprised to see him back in Palamecia. Cloud tells them about the orb seen floating along with him in the opening cutscene: though he calls it a materia, he doesn’t know how or when he acquired it. Based on his behavior, it appears that Cloud remembers just as little about the events of OG as he did by the end of Eclipse Contact. Wol informs Cloud that whoever he heard speaking to him on his way here was probably Vox pretending to be Sephiroth.
As the group advances, Cloud recalls Midgar and decides they should go there next. At one of Midgar’s mako reactors, the group encounters Sephiroth, who speaks to himself:

“It's still not enough. This... this is but a pale imitation of the power I desire.”

Once Sephiroth has disappeared, Cloud explains what he remembers: Sephiroth was the greatest SOLDIER of all and a hero to Cloud, though Cloud can’t remember what exactly ended this admiration. As players of FFVII OG, we know the event in question is the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth slaughtered the town’s residents, including Cloud’s mother, after learning of his past. The former war hero also severely injured Tifa, whom Cloud presumed dead when he found her in the old mako reactor with a vicious slash on her chest. Cloud is agitated by the gaps in his memory, so the group resolves to follow Sephiroth for answers. When they find him again, Sephiroth causes Cloud to experience a piercing headache with the mere mention of the Reunion. They fight, but Sephiroth is too powerful— he skewers Cloud with the masamune and taunts his unconscious body:

“Sephiroth: A puppet. I won’t kill you. Not yet. Not until you know true despair.
Wol: If you want despair, we got plenty to go around. Palamecia’s full of it.
Sephiroth: Yes, this planet knows suffering. But it is not the world that was promised to me. I must go home. Tell Cloud, if he wants to see me again, he should face his memories. I will await him there, in the land of memory, where it all began. In Nibelheim.”

Sephiroth darkens Cloud’s materia, turning it black. Later, Wol explains to Cloud that Sephiroth stole the light from his materia, taking Cloud’s strength along with it.
Once Cloud has woken up, the group travels to Nibelheim to uncover the truth about Cloud’s memories. Cloud slowly gathers pieces of his past, shown to the player as titled, diary-like text written from various perspectives. Cloud learns the truth about SOLDIER, Jenova cells, Sephiroth, and what happened in Nibelheim. Let’s examine a few of these diary entries:

“A Warrior’s Tale: There's a girl in Nibelheim I think about. Warm. Cheerful. More grown-up than a child. Haven't talked to her much, but she seems nice. She's going to be leading the SOLDIERs to the mountain reactor. Maybe if I get into the survey team I'll get a chance to talk to her? Nah. She's out of my league.”

Young Cloud’s crush on Tifa is on full display! This must be a memory from his time as an infantryman accompanying Zack and Sephiroth to Nibelheim.

“Tale of the Nameless: I drift along in the mako, asleep. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Give me a number. I… I… I am… The Reunion. The Reunion must happen.”

This entry could be taken from any one of the Nibelheim survivors’ perspectives, as they were all bathed in mako and turned into Sephiroth clones. I would venture to say this is Cloud’s perspective though, given the reference to this iconic line from OG:

“Cloud: Professor... please give me a number. Please, Professor...
Hojo: Shut up, miserable failure.” (disk 2, chapter 2).

The trio encounters Sephiroth near the old Mt. Nibel mako reactor. Because Sephiroth stole the light from his materia earlier, Cloud goes into the confrontation already drained of his strength. However, when Cloud lifts the materia in his hand, it lights up and creates rainbow ripples in the air around him, similar to those seen in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth. Cloud is healed of his injuries: he closes his eyes for a moment, wearing a peaceful expression. Sephiroth is displeased, but recovers quickly:

“Sephiroth: The guiding light… it healed you.

Wol: […] here, near the mako reactor, the materia regained its light. And your strength returned […]. [Sephiroth]’s here so he can steal the power you've stored inside that materia.

Sephiroth, with a short laugh: I have all the power I need. Cloud. What strength you’ve regained is yours. Use it to fight me. It’s time. Let’s decide this, in this land lost to despair. The prize is home. The Promised Land. There to answer the call of destiny.”

With this second evocation of fate, Sephiroth disappears.
Cloud, Wol and Echo find Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. He mocks Cloud for believing the orb in his possession is materia. Sephiroth waves a hand and his signature black and purple fog surrounds Cloud, immobilizing him. Sephiroth claims that the power Cloud regained at the Mt. Nibel reactor was Sephiroth’s all along. Now that it courses through Cloud’s veins, Sephiroth controls him. He calls Cloud his puppet and finishes with the following before the two vanish, leaving Wol and Echo alone:

“Now, let us return. Back to the Promised Land. The time of the Reunion has come.”

After Cloud finally breaks free and defeats Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, the villain makes a final threat:

“Very good, Cloud. You’ve destroyed an illusion. But the time will come to abandon your illusions and face reality. Then, you will know true pain.”

Sephiroth disappears for the last time, his body surrounded by his signature dark fog and the rainbow ripples. A piano rendition of Tifa’s theme begins. Cloud’s orb rises into the air and becomes a crystal, with the same shape and glow as the one we see in Eclipse Contact. The following dialogue is illuminating:

“Cloud: I will fight. The light will lead me where I need to go.

Wol: You sure? Wasn’t that [crystal] Sephiroth’s?

Cloud: I heard Sephiroth's voice, at the end. Inside me. Whatever he put in me, it’s still in there. Someday I’ll settle that score. If I can't avoid destiny, I might as well face it head-on.

Wol: Yeah. That was quite a speech, Cloud. Surprised you made it through without laughing.

Cloud: Yeah, forget I said it. I will too.

Echo: Forgetting won’t make it go away. Even if the words fade from memory, your dream will never disappear. Not until it becomes real.“

The crystal shines as though in response.

“Echo: See? See, that's how the light of hope works. Hope can turn your dreams into reality.

Cloud: Yeah. I guess so. I might forget this world, but I won’t forget hope. And my reality, that’s for me to live.”

Tifa’s theme ends. Cloud approaches the crystal, and disappears in a beam of blinding light. Once Cloud has vanished with the crystal, Aerith’s theme begins playing. A few pale feathers with a slight orange tint (the color of MFF) float down onto the floor where he stood seconds before. The image fades to black. The credits roll, and Aerith’s theme continues all the way through.
Once both the final name in the credits and Aerith’s theme fade, we’re surprised by a sudden, troubling image: Sephiroth appears in a frightening flash, standing amidst the flames of Nibelheim. When his image fades to black, the collaboration title *“Final Fantasy VII x Mobius Final Fantasy”*appears on the screen. The FFVII title is surrounded by the 1997 meteor logo. Then, a flash of light: the titles reappear, except this time, they read “Final Fantasy VII REMAKE x Mobius Final Fantasy”. The new Remake Meteor logo replaces the 1997 version. As soon as these changes to the FFVIItitle and meteor logo occur, Aerith’s theme returns. It plays on until the game ends a few seconds later, the screen fading to black.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
The introduction cutscene shows that MFF Cloud travelled from Eclipse Contact to Fatal Calling via Lifestream. It’s unclear how much time has passed in between, but the atemporal nature of the Lifestream makes the question irrelevant. My theory that MFF Cloud has died is corroborated by the way he’s depicted in the opening cutscene: his eyes are closed and his body is limp as the Lifestream carries him.
Eclipse Contact ended with Echo’s claim that Cloud will face his true self and confront his past while he journeys to his Promised Land. This description resembles what Cloud experienced in the OG Lifestream sequence (disk 2, chapter 8). Indeed, Fatal Calling revolves around the same topics the Lifestream sequence addresses: the truth about the Nibelheim incident, Hojo’s experiments, young Cloud’s crush on Tifa, etc. The opening cutscene shows Cloud being transported to his Promised Land and facing his past on the way there, just like Echo said he would.
Let’s now take a long detour to examine the song that plays during the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling: “The Promised Land” theme from Advent Children. The title and general subject of this song are obviously relevant to the cutscene, but there must be more to its inclusion than that. Perhaps the lyrics can help us understand its appearance in the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling. Here are the unofficial English lyrics (translated from the original Japanese lyrics by an anonymous fan and verified by me via DeepL):

“Why do we cling together?
Why do we give punishment to lesser hearts?
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The pulse of veins flows through the earth
A faint, faint pulse
Of a heart drawn to death
A gentle life returns to the planet
Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?
Why do we cling together?
Why do we beg for forgiveness
In the Promised Land?” (“‘The Promised Land’ (theme)” by Final Fantasy Wiki).

The song appears to be a regretful lament of human behavior, expressed by the repetition of “Why do we […]?” questions. The behaviors listed are all typically human ones: the terms “[clinging] together” and “[giving] punishment to [the] lesser” express the uniquely human nature of tribalism and the consequences of the fear and hatred it can generate, and “[begging] for forgiveness in the Promised Land” is likely a reference to the human hypocrisy of only feeling sorry for one’s crimes when judgement day arrives. This last line describes a scenario where someone remains passive or ignorant in the face of something important, only to realize its essentiality once it’s too late. The repeated“The planet did not forgive us” lines reflect the fear of being condemned forever because of one’s mistakes, as though the planet is a deity one has sinned against. The lyric describing a pulse in the earth is obviously about the planet being alive— a reference to the Lifestream. But the pulse is faint and weak and the planet is dying, perishing because of mankind’s greed. This is an indictment of mako energy. The line “A gentle life returns to the planet” refers to an innocent’s soul returning to the Lifestream after death, while the next lyric “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” protests the “sacrifice” of the planet’s soul energy for mako production. In all this darkness, this song’s mention of “forgiveness in the Promised Land” leaves a modicum of hope for a better place, however meek, even though mankind might not deserve it. The song “The Promised Land” is both a lament of mankind’s ways and a plea for mercy, with religious and/or spiritual undertones. The song’s themes seem to be: the Promised Land itself, regret and shame, the sins and foolishness of mankind, the death of innocents, grief, Cetra spirituality, and a meek, quiet hope despite it all. The most interesting aspect of the song is its antithetical portrayal of death as a thing of both despair and hope, condemnation and salvation, cruelty and mercy, suffering and relief. Maybe we can glean more information about this theme’s significance in the world of FFVII if we examine the contexts in which it appears.
Importantly, the song plays in Marlene’s introductory narration of Advent Children, meaning its themes are related or similar to the film’s. I highly recommend listening and watching it again, even if you remember this iconic segment. Marlene references Aerith’s sacrifice as the image of Cloud lowering her into the water is shown. Note that Marlene says “Sadness was the price to see it end” (2:36) after we are shown Aerith’s death and her subsequent unleashing of the Lifestream (1:49-2:24): Aerith’s innocent life was sacrificed for the planet’s survival. The lyrics “A gentle life returns to the planet” and “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” suit Aerith’s situation quite well.
The theme also plays in Advent Children as Kadaj dies in Cloud’s arms (1:45:00-1:47:55), hearing Aerith’s gentle voice and reaching up to take her invisible hand. Here is what Aerith says to him in his dying moments as “The Promised Land” plays:

“Aerith’s voice: Kadaj?
Kadaj: Huh?
The dark sky has gone with Sephiroth. Healing rain starts falling from bright clouds. The rain no longer hurts Kadaj.
Aerith’s voice: You don’t have to hang on any longer.
Kadaj: Mother! Is that…?
Aerith’s voice: Everyone’s waiting, if you’re ready.
Kadaj nods his head slightly in acceptance. He holds out his hand, and slowly evaporates into the Lifestream. Cloud watches […]” (Advent Children).

Kadaj is brought into the Lifestream by Aerith as she provides rain from the Lifestream. All those with geostigma are healed by the rain, and Tifa feels Aerith’s presence as the party celebrates:

“Tifa, looking out at the falling rain […]: Somehow, I knew you were there. Thank you” (Advent Children).

Cloud stands in the rain with a smile —his first in the whole film—, closes his eyes and basks in Aerith’s healing with his face upturned. He is finally at peace:

“Cloud’s expression is one of peace as the [Lifestream] rain patters against him” (Final Fantasy VII Advent Children English script, “[83] Atop the Shinra Building”).

One thing is clear: the track “The Promised Land” accompanies Aerith. It only makes sense, since we’ve seen overwhelming evidence that she is Cloud’s Promised Land, and since she occupies the Lifestream —which some consider the Promised Land as it is where souls go after death— during the events of Advent Children. Note that when the piece plays, Cloud is shown either mourning Aerith and releasing her into the river at the Cetra capital, or basking in her presence, smiling with relief at the peaceful feeling that she’s somewhere near: these two opposing scenes reflect the song’s antithetical portrayal of death.
Additionally, the song’s themes of regret, shame concerning one’s sins and a small hope perfectly describe Cloud’s character arc and feelings in Advent Children. Cloud regrets his inability to save Aerith, which he considers a sin. Further, he only realized how important she is to him once it was too late to tell her. And of course, he harbors a fragile yet important hope that he’ll be reunited with her in the Promised Land:

“‘Can sins ever be forgiven?’ — Cloud asks this to Vincent, who mutters a brief answer. For both of them, ‘I couldn't protect my loved one’ is the sense of guilt that they carry, so their words resonate with weight” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Vincent Valentine”, “In Advent Children”, page 72).

&

"’It is my sin that I couldn't protect my loved one’ — under this assumption, Cloud closes off his heart. What will the reunion with Aerith bring him? ‘I... think I want to be forgiven. Yeah, I just want to be forgiven’” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Cloud Strife”, “In Advent Children”, page 40).

&

“Cloud, after seeing Aerith’s hand reach for him through the Lifestream: … I think I'm beginning to understand.
Tifa: What?

Cloud: An answer from the Planet… the Promised Land... I think I can meet her... there” (disk 3, chapter 3).

Just as the song and Marlene express in the introduction of the film, Aerith was innocent, and her sacrifice generated great grief. Cloud finally experiences peace when he feels her presence in the healing rain, and he smiles: he’s glad to be with her again, even if it’s only for a brief moment of tangential respite.
The scene depicts Aerith guiding Kadaj into the Lifestream as the song plays, tying her to the concept and theme song of the Promised Land once more. This connection is later solidified by Tifa’s thanks to the late flower girl. All of this evidence shows us that this musical theme is intimately linked to Aerith, as it never plays in her absence. After all, the song speaks of sins, the death of innocents, forgiveness, grief, a small sense of hope, regret and the afterlife: all themes relevant to Cloud’s feelings surrounding Aerith’s death in and outside of Advent Children.
The Remake OST also includes a version of this piece called “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life”. This iteration of the theme begins playing in the wake of the first bombing mission, right after Sephiroth taunts Cloud with his mother’s dying words in Sector 8 (chapter 2). Sephiroth appears to Cloud surrounded by flames, evoking the Nibelheim massacre, and the theme begins playing in the background once he disappears, continuing (13:17-15:30) as Cloud walks through the sector, encountering fires and destruction all around him. This version of the Promised Land theme is meant to emphasize the deaths of the innocent Nibelheim townsfolk and the innocents in Sector 8. This dreadful atmosphere is amplified by the cries of despair that ring all around as Cloud passes by NPC Sector 8 residents. Perhaps the themes of tribalism and mankind’s sin are relevant to this scene as well, since Shinra and Avalanche are two distinct and warring groups whose quarrels, regardless of their necessity, result in the deaths of innocents. The theme of guilt also emerges, reflecting the Avalanche members’ feelings upon seeing the unintended collateral damage of the explosion. “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life” plays until Cloud encounters Aerith on Loveless. So it seems in this scenario, the heavy weight of death and despair is lifted when Cloud meets the lively, cheery Aerith. Once more, Aerith is central to the musical theme of the Promised Land, as well as to the concept itself.
I also noticed that a version of the song plays as Cloud and the party ready to enter the Forgotten Capital to save Aerith in Rebirth’s chapter 14: it truly adds the weight of her upcoming death to the scene.
Back to Fatal Calling, the scene where Cloud regains his strength is quite mysterious. Wol says Cloud’s orb regained its “guiding light” light because of its proximity to the mako reactor. In the moment his strength is replenished, Cloud is shown tilting his head back and closing his eyes: this is reminiscent of the scene in Advent Children when he stands under Aerith’s healing Lifestream rain, feeling at peace. The rainbow ripples shining from the orb indicate that something is crossing the boundaries of worlds. Since the mako reactor pumps up the Lifestream, being near a reactor also means being physically near the Lifestream. This means Aerith’s spirit is within proximity. In my opinion, Aerith was able to heal Cloud from the Lifestream, just like in Advent Children. However, Aerith is not in Palamecia with him: her healing had to travel there through the Lifestream, transcending the boundaries of worlds, hence the rainbow ripples.
Let’s now address the appearance of Tifa’s character theme in Fatal Calling. Since Fatal Calling is all about discovering Cloud’s past in Nibelheim and then in Hojo’s lab, it makes lots of sense for Tifa’s theme to play as the crystal appears. In OG’s Lifestream sequence (disk 2 chapter 8), she’s the one there helping Cloud sort through his past instead of Wol and Echo. Cloud even picks up a piece of his childhood crush on Tifa in Fatal Calling as a shard of his memory. After all, this crush was the catalyst for him joining SOLDIER, and everything that transpired in consequence:

“Cloud: That was the first time I heard about Sephiroth. If I got strong like Sephiroth, then everyone might... If I could just get stronger... Then even Tifa would have to notice me” (FFVII OG, disk 2, chapter 8).

Additionally, it’s fitting that her theme should begin right after Sephiroth speaks of “[abandoning] your illusions and [facing] reality”, considering that Cloud’s false persona was concocted by Jenova using Tifa’s mistaken impressions of Cloud:

“While being tended to by a station worker in the Sector 7 Slum train station, [Cloud] was reunited with Tifa, and using the abilities of Jenova’s cells, formed a new personality” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVII World, “Cloud Strife”, “Cloud Behavior Record, Compilation of FFVII”, page 40).

&

“(Image caption:) A new personality takes shape the moment he sees Tifa” (FFVII Story Playback, “Story Check: Tifa’s Flashback”).

&

“Tifa (to Cloud): Deep down, you're a pretty nice guy. Didn't see it when we were kids, but...” (Remake, chapter 14).

Model: Macbook Pro Retina mid-2015 (I got it used, and it is my very first Mac) Issue: I formatted my internal Mac SSD (it's a WD Sn720 or something in the 700 range 500GB variant). now I can't install Mac OS back onto it.
Details: So I have, I know dumb of me, formatted my SSD completely from a USB installer stick's disk utility, thinking that I would be able to install the OS from this installer (a colleague of mine had the installer USB). Turned out that the installer had some damage to it and couldn't finish the Mac OS install, and now I am stuck on how to get Mac OS back onto my SSD.
I tried; cmd+R (and shift+opt+cmd+R) - to get the factory/last OS installed (in internet recovery mode, as the base system on the NVME no longer exists). When I get into the disk utility to format the drive, the NVME neither shows up in there, nor does it show if I run 'diskutil list' in the terminal of the recovery mode. The version of the installer it is pulling off of the internet is El Capitan. Looking up on the internet, I found that the 10.13+ installers have drivers to read third-party internal drives, El Capitan being 10.11. So I'm out of luck on this side (unless there's something idk that is possible, like maybe pulling the drivers from the internet using the terminal or something along those lines) Some forums suggested getting Apple's original SSD, but I don't have that option.
cmd+opt+r - to get the latest compatible version of macOS gives me error 5101f when downloading the installer. Again, looking up on the internet, I found that my Mac doesn't have the firmware updated for it to support whichever installer it tried to pull. (I also tried again, after resetting the NVRAM or PRAM, using cmd+shift+r+p, as in some forums, resetting NVRAM fixed the issue for some peeps).
Trying really hard to look for a solution.
Now the next question might be that the SSD is faulty but I know for a fact that the SSD works as I've been able to install Linux on it and create a Mac OS virtual machine, in hopes of creating a boot install USB stick that can potentially fix my issue. AFAIK, the bootable USB that is made using a Mac (in my case Mac-VM, I do not have the option of another Mac machine) needs to match the model I am trying to make the installer for. I've, so far, made a Monterey installer USB. I pulled the installer using macadminscripts (https://github.com/munki/macadmin-scripts) and burned the USB usingAppleapple support guide (https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578). The installer that I created this way, gave me an error midway through the installation that the installer was damaged, re-download and try again. I am once again in the process of creating the install USB stick. But I might try some other installer version. Maybe High Sierra or Mojave or maybe Sierra. I will try them one by one I guess...
It's really time-consuming to download and do, basically, trial and error. I've already spent way too many days on this than I would like to, it's getting frustrating at this point

prior to this post may post pa ako tungkol kay guy
this - https://www.reddit.com/OffMyChestPH/s/LdBK3YlU1f
LONG STORY POST (sorry)
natatawa ako. nalulungkot. naiinis— hindi ko alam anong mafifeel ko actually, kung kailan tinapos ko na lahat tsaka naka-buo!
so, siya pa nagtanong last time kung dinatnan na daw ba ako kasi kung hindi bibili na siya ng pregnancy test. tapos napaisip at napabilang nga ako, tangina. oo nga. parang isang buwan na akong hindi nagkaka mens. tapos right after nag PT na ako lahat faint line, 6 PTs yun pero may isang medyo malinaw na 2 lines tapos the rest faint lines na. nagpa book na din ako sa GP and refered me to do a ultrasound which is hindi pa ako nakakapag pa book due to 6 days ang work ko and supeeeer busy. ini insist naman niyang samahan niya ako and siya na mag book but kako ako na bahala sa lahat.
nung sinabi ko sakanya to, galit ako. minessage ko siya ng sobrang haba nanaman at masasakit na words lol. na kako pagod na akong maging parausan niya kung yun man intention niya at kung hindi niya makita worth ko i said leave me fucking alone, find someone and get a bitch he'll going to mess with! lol
eto ang reply niya na paisa isang text haha — "I never think that you will think like that. Thats horrible way of thinking i never want any side chicks. Believe me i loved you and it is still there because i told my sis too about u that how you took care of me. Fucking you are rude. How many times you attempt to falsely make me a bad person? I never underestimate you but you do a lot to me. you are a short tempered person!"
after niyan tumatawag siya but hindi ko sinasagot at blinock ko. pati sa whatsapp umabot siya na kausapin ko daw siya hindi ko din nirereplyan then kagabi, nagutom kasi ako pag-uwi nag toast ako ng bread tapos sabi niya "why don't you want to atleast communicate?" kako "what for?" sabi niya ang tigas daw ng ulo ko. tapos sabi ko "you know my last resort is to go back in the philippines." sabi niya "no. you can't take the baby like that, i will come with you if ever." which is sinabi niya ulit kaninang umaga. kako impossible, kasi ang ganda ng trabahong iiwan niya dito. engineer siya dito tas iiwan niya? no way. sabi pa niya happy daw siya if ever man, tapos hahanap na daw siya ng house for us to rent ng kami lang. ang sabi ko sakanya "i don't want you to decide such things just because this situation happened. i am fine, you don't have to worry cos i can handle things." sabi niya lang "no."
ayun, nag-usap ulit kami kaninang umaga, at siya pa mismo nag iinsist ng conversation. sabi niya saakin ulit kung gusto ko daw ba magpasama sa doctor humindi ulit ako. and based on him feeling ko for citizenship na yung papers niya kaya sabi niya kailangan niya pang mag work ng 2 years for visa conditions and all good na siya kaso daw, hindi nga daw planned tong nangyari kaya hindi kami ready financially and emotionally. kako sakanya, naiiyak ko na to lahat. na inexpect ko ng magiging single mom ako, tinanggap ko na yung fate ko, nag desisyon na akong kaya ko to dahil may trabaho naman ako at sinabi ko nga din sakanya sa msg before na kahit kailan hindi ko kailangan ng support at kahit anong tulong niya.
panay ang text, kamusta daw pakiramdam ko, gusto ko daw ba dalhan ako ng food, uminom ng madaming tubig, wag masyado maglalalakad and such. ngayon pa siya nag gaganito kung kailan pawala na yung pagmamahal ko sakanya. ako ngayon ang cold at petty saaming dalawa. hindi ko din alam. sa pamilya ko walang nakaka alam ng sitwasyon ko ngayon for sure madi-disappoint sila saakin though right age to marry and build a family naman na din ako pero hindi lang nila din ine expect kung sakali na hindi pala ako mag eend up sa ex fiancé ko. (which is different story to tell lol)
to be honest hindi pa din nag sisink in saakin mga nangyayari ngayon, basta lagi lang akong nahihilo malalang cravings and bugnutin. wala akong magather na thoughts ngayon, sobrang blangko ko.
matalino naman ako, may magandang work, hindi naman ako chaka, pero bakit pagdating sa pag-ibig sobrang bobo ko? sobrang bobo sa totoo lang.

I have this weird habit where I have to make a rudementary JavaScript damage calculator for every game I really get into, and I wanna make one for this game too. Problem is, damage calculation is weird as heck from what I can see. Crit chance, crit damage and precision are pretty easy to figure out, and all attacks tell you the exact percentage of your Attack stat it gives in damage so that's nice, but there's a bunch of other stats that I've got no idea how to even test cuz it's a mystery of how they work. Does additional damage/damage reduction work per instance of damage, or for the whole attack input? Is there an absolute minimum an instance of damage can deal despite any amount of damage reduction? What's the formula for defense calculation? How does total team power get into the mix, since it apparently affects your damage dealt/taken? Do active buffs from different armors/skills stack additively or multiplicatively? Do defense debuffs stack at all, and if so, do THEY stack additively? (Probably not since it's a reduction and those rarely stack in a way that makes -100% easy to reach) I have a lot more questions than I have answers, and I plan on tackling these things slowly in the next week or so, but it would help to get advice from the community if anyone has anything they've figured out already, so here I am. Thanks for listening/helping if you can.

So, I grew up reading HTTYD and its sequels. Loved em to death. I dont hate the movies either, they're not the books, but they're good movies, saw em in theaters. But I've always wondered, WHY do the movies have basically nothing to do with the books?
I tried to look it up, couldnt find anything, just people who never read the books being suprised they were basically unrelated. I'm going to be honest, if I didn't know better, I'd almost think they wrote a script for a completely separate project, then slapped the HTTYD IP on it, changed a couple names to match characters from the books, and said, "ah yes, we have made a How to Train Your Dragon movie", when frankly, as much as I love the movie... it isn't that
It's just been on my mind lately, as stuff about the Live Action Remake has given me a very sad reminder that we're never actually going to see Hiccup's story on screen, and honestly? That does make me pretty sad, even if the DreamWorks attempts were good as a non HTTYD story
Anyways, to reiterate my question- does anyone know why they chose to make the movies nearly unrelated to the books? Is it just to make a more commercial, clean, corporate story? Did Cowell start to dislike her original work, and want to replace it? Did they just legitimately slap the title and character names on an unrelated project?

Last spring I was already busy in preparing. Not only just tickets but also lots of items such as make-ups, clothes, and some weird stuff. They filled my suitcase. I spent some money on skin-care items and beauty salons as well.
On the other hand, this year all I did was to wonder if I buy the double cheery colored necklace. When I told you that it showed my expectation, I hope you were not unhappy but understood my doubtful smile on the pitch of the movie Major Tom in Alternative Universe 2.
It was OK for me that our first and last movie failed to launch. In hindsight, I enjoyed all the making processes and did well. Writing a script, practicing performance, preparing equipment. Never filming, though.
I thank you for inviting me on that summer short movie. I looked at my photos and found I looked younger. (I know you don't believe it or you can't imagine how I could look older than that. 😩) I went on a diet, did some exercise, bought a ridiculously expensive eye cream, had my hair cut with no discount. They were good, but I believe the youthful spirit that you fed me helped a lot. You kept pouring your energy on me all these years. Maybe I helped you, too, traveling back to the past where we once belonged without feeling nostalgia.
I played well a role of an almost Cinderella. Well, then, did you expect me to want it again? If you had seen things in my suitcase, you wouldn't ask. Lots of props, unused. (Or did you see them? Later I found you knew that I brought a white summer dress with me. I didn't wear it at all. That's why I suspect you are either a stalker, a hacker or a clairvoyant. :)
You are like Peter Pan and doesn't care how cruel time is. When a new spring has come, however, I didn't think I could perform the same Bibbidi-Bobbidi boo magic.
I forgot that today's topic was a necklace. I bought some silver stuff when I was young, but I rarely buy jewelries by myself. Last summer I thought I needed a real one. Since I am old, I decided to buy gold, not silver. I just didn't know how expensive it was 😢. (It was not even gold but yellow gold.) I ordered it online. I was so shocked to see how small the diamond was. My daughter guessed the price at $1. I agreed with her. It felt like it was telling my fate... Still thank you for noticing the tiniest diamond. Now I don't know where it is anymore.
I don't think I can do this farce again.
This spring all I did was checking that pink zircon necklace every time I passed the shop. It was an outlet item and even much cheaper. Thought it represented my attitude this year and felt sad. I wanted it quite a while but hesitated to have it when I thought about the meaning of the action.
I will tell you a good and a bad news. First, I finally bought it when the cherry blossoms were already gone!! I wondered if this would be a good re-start of my story writing this year. Second, it is too pink, too Barbie, which means too young for me.... I like the hue, but I should've chosen sakura color, not double cherry. I really wanted it and maybe I still....
Mr. Fortune Teller, what does this means?
Recently I started to check clothes again. Warmer ones. Gloves. Jackets. "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo"? Nah.
Remember I always carried a ticket, some money for one drink, OK, maybe a phone nowadays with me. No bag, no sack, either. No suitcase, ofc.
Whatever comes in the future, I will travel lightly this time. Maybe I will see you again like the daughter of the air as I always wish to be.
S.

(continuation of part 1)

III. Searching for Aerith Beyond FFVII

There were absolutely no answers in Remake or OG (at this point in my research, Rebirth wasn’t released yet), no matter how much I looked; nothing at all hinted at how Cloud could’ve obtained the memories of OG that emerge in Remake as MOTFs. I knew I had to look elsewhere to search for more clues, so I decided to check every piece of media ever released by SE with a mention of Cloud or Aerith in it, digging for hints in the compilation and beyond.
And boy, did I find them.
III. a) Core Worlds and Suspension Worlds
There are a couple of general FF rules that we need to establish before going forward.
It’s important to note that there are multiple realms in which the FF stories take place, each with a different name, history and society. This ensures that all FF stories occur separately, never intercepting or interacting— though they do have creatures like moogles and chocobos in common, as well as concepts like airships, gil, magic and some form of crystal. For simplicity, I will refer to these separate worlds in which the numbered FF games (FFI, FFII, FFIII, etc) occur as “core worlds”.
Characters from different core worlds may appear together in non-numbered FF games, the events of which have no impact on the core world at all: it seems that sometime after a FF character has reached the end of their core world’s plot-line, they may somehow be summoned to far-removed realms where they will face new adventures. I call these far-removed realms “suspension worlds”. One example of a FF game that takes place in a suspension world is Dissidia Final Fantasy, wherein characters from multiple core worlds unite to accomplish a mission as a team.
III. b) Final Fantasy Tactics
First on our list of non-compilation SE games to explore is 1997’s Final Fantasy Tactics (FFT), a game whose plot takes place in the suspension world of Ivalice. Let’s plot out the relevant events, and then analyze!
III. b) i. Fact-Finding
The main character of FFT, Ramza, encounters a brunette flower peddler with Aerith’s iconic, gravity-defying bangs:
\"Aeris\" in FFT's Ivalice
If you choose to buy a flower from her, she express her relief: apparently, business isn’t going well because no one is interested in flowers. The girl wistfully dreams aloud:

“When is my knight in shining armor going to take me away from here...?”

Later, Ramza and his companions encounter a mysterious machine that can summon people from across universes. The machine is activated, and a rather rude young man with spiky blonde hair appears. Cloud claims he used to be in SOLDIER, and says the last thing he remembers is “getting stuck in the current”. He looks to be disoriented and lost, and suffers from piercing headaches. Mere moments after being summoned to Ivalice, Cloud rambles:

“What’s this? My fingers are tingling… My eyes… they’re burning… Stop… stop it [Se]phiroth…”

He dashes out of the room, but not without announcing:

“I must go… must go to that place…”

Outside, Cloud encounters the brunette flower girl Ramza met earlier. She offers Cloud a flower, but he only stares at her wordlessly:

“Flower girl: Buy a flower? Only 1 gil.
Cloud: …
Flower girl: Something wrong? Do I resemble someone?”
Cloud: No… it’s nothing.”

As soon as Cloud leaves, a gang of ruffians surround the flower girl and start harassing her, demanding payment that’s apparently overdue. One of them finally calls her by her name: “Aeris”. He grabs her, insinuating that he might sexually assault her in lieu of payment. Aeris is not strong enough to push him away. That’s when Cloud returns:

“Cloud: Get your hand off her!
Thug: What did you say!?
Cloud: Didn't you hear me? Get your dirty hand off her!
[…]
Cloud, to Aeris: Go… now.”

Aeris heeds Cloud’s advice, fleeing the scene before a fight between Cloud and the thug can break out. After Cloud scares the ruffians off with the help of Ramza and his companions, he speaks once more:

“I lost… something very important… Ever since, I’ve been lost […]. What should I do? What about this pain [?] Must go… to the Promised Land.”

III. b) ii. Fact Analysis
There’s a lot to unpack here, all of which you probably clocked in your head upon reading, but let’s put it down in writing.
While FFT Cloud’s memory is far from perfect, the Aeris he encounters in Ivalice doesn’t recognize him at all. FFVII Ultimania Omega addresses this question without answering it:

“[The flower seller’s] name is Aeris, and she has the same appearance and tone of voice as the Aeris of FFVII. However, when she comes across Cloud, she does not recognize him. Could she really be the same Aerith who appears in FFVII but with memory loss, or is she a completely different character?” (“#4 Proof of Omega”, “FFVII in Other Games”, “Final Fantasy Tactics”, page 560).

Regardless of her unknown identity and inability to recognize Cloud, FFT Aeris’ fantasy of a “knight in shining armor” is quite reminiscent of the flower girl/bodyguard dynamic we’ve come to know and love. Cloud’s armor doesn’t shine, but in my opinion, if you’re looking for the dystopian, corporatocratic equivalent of a knight, you can’t get much closer than a supposed-former-SOLDIER-turned-bodyguard. Additionally, despite his rude and cold attitude toward Ramza’s gang, the urgency with which Cloud swoops in to save the flower girl from the ruffians betrays a softer, warmer side to him: the flower girl/bodyguard dynamic strikes again!
FFT Cloud’s dialogue borrows two lines from the speech OG Cloud makes as Aerith lies dead in his arms (disk 1, chapter 28): “My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!” and “What are we supposed to do? What about my pain?” You might’ve noticed that this glimpse of grief Cloud experiences in FFT bears a resemblance to the fourth MOTF 4 experienced by Remake Cloud (see section “II. a)”). Could it be that FFT Cloud and Remake Cloud have something in common?
Shortly after being summoned to Ivalice, FFT Cloud declares that he must go to “that place”, a mysterious line that is later elucidated when he tells Ramza that he must go to the Promised Land and find the “very important” thing he’s lost. The Promised Land is the Cetra culture’s afterlife, meaning FFT Cloud is looking for someone who’s died, someone “very important” to him. OG suggests this is none other than Aerith:

“Cait Sith, reading Cloud’s fortune: You will find [what] you pursue. However, you will lose the most precious thing” (disk 1, chapter 16, English translation by Kotaku’s “Let’s Mosey: A Slow Translation of Final Fantasy Seven: Part Eight” by Tim Rogers, 9:42-9:52).

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“Cloud, after seeing Aerith’s hand reach for him through the Lifestream: … I think I'm beginning to understand.
Tifa: What?
Cloud: An answer from the Planet… the Promised Land... I think I can meet her... there” (disk 3, chapter 3).

Finally, let’s try to understand where on the OG timeline Cloud was summoned to this suspension world from and what he remembers. His comment about getting stuck in a current has to be about the Lifestream; apparently, on top of its atemporal nature, it can act as a conduit to other worlds. One only enters the Lifestream if they’ve somehow fallen into the core of the planet or once they’ve passed away and returned to the planet. Both scenarios merit consideration.
On the one hand, it’s possible that Cloud was summoned to Ivalice after he and Tifa fall into the core of the planet: this point in the FFVII OG timeline occurs after Aerith’s death and shortly before Cloud finds out he was never SOLDIER, which matches the gaps in FFT Cloud’s memory quite well. However, this scenario does not account for the vagueness with which FFT Cloud remembers Aerith and her death. Most importantly, Cloud’s realization that he can find Aerith in the Promised Land occurs much later in the game (FFVII OG, disk 3, chapter 3) than when he falls into the Lifestream with Tifa (FFVII OG, disk 2, chapter 8).
On the other hand, FFT Cloud’s vague yet persistent memories of Aerith suggest that he’s been summoned to Ivalice after his eventual death post-OG, but also that he’s lost quite a large portion of his memories. His incomplete memory loss is likely the result of Cloud’s individuality’s erosion by the Lifestream after death, which we discussed in section “II. a) ii.”. We can therefore surmise that by the time he is summoned to Ivalice from the Lifestream, Cloud has been dead for long enough that the Lifestream eroded a large portion of the memories of his lifetime. This post-death scenario is likelier than the first. The memory of Cloud’s realization that he was never SOLDIER must be gone, which explains why he claims otherwise upon being summoned to Ivalice. Contrastingly, vestiges of Cloud’s OG memories of Aerith cling to his soul, even after others have been wiped clean. Could this be a consequence of their soulmate bond? Could the strength of Cloud’s love and grief for Aerith have made his memories of her stronger and more difficult for the Lifestream to erode? Could it be both?
One thing is clear: Aerith is of fundamental importance to Cloud, even when he can’t quite remember her. In fact, the only other character he remembers and/or mentions in FFT is Sephiroth. It does make sense that the memories of those who have marked one’s soul forevermore would be the most difficult for the Lifestream to erode.
III. c) Dissidia Final Fantasy
The next stop on our travels through suspension worlds is 2008’s Dissidia Final Fantasy! Now strap in, because here’s where things get really serious.
III. c) i. Fact Finding
In the suspension world of Dissidia Final Fantasy (DFF), the goddess of harmony Cosmos and the god of discord Chaos are engaged in a never-ending cycle of conflict. Both deities need warriors to fight on their behalf, so they recruit core world characters into their respective teams by summoning them to DFF. Some of these summoned characters are FFIV’s Cecil, FFVI’s Terra, FFVII’s Sephiroth, FFX’s Tidus, and of course, FFVII’s Cloud. The warriors find themselves in the suspension world of DFF with no memories of their core worlds’ plotlines. However, as the DFF adventure progresses, they are able to recover pieces of their memories here and there. It isn’t clear how much they come to remember. Ultimately, the warriors hope to return home to their core worlds by fighting in this war and seeing to its end.
Cloud is summoned to DFF as a warrior on the side of Chaos, who seeks to destroy all existence. Sephiroth is also on Chaos’ side, meaning the two are teammates despite being enemies in their core world of FFVII. It just so happens that Tifa is a summoned warrior in DFF too, though she’s fighting on Cosmos’ side. Intrigued by her vague familiarity, Sephiroth hypothesizes that killing Tifa will bring back his memories of OG’s plot line: before long, the masamune wielder finds Tifa alone and corners her into a one-on-one fight. Thankfully, Cloud swoops in and saves her before Sephiroth can do any harm. Tifa is thankful for Cloud’s help, though confused that Cloud would elect to assist her and turn against a fellow warrior of Chaos; she doesn’t remember what Sephiroth and Cloud mean to each other in OG. In fact, Tifa doesn’t even remember Cloud’s name or that they share a core world, though Cloud feels somewhat familiar to her. For his part, Cloud at least remembers that Tifa is someone he cares about from his core world. As Tifa thanks Cloud for saving her from Sephiroth, something she says elicits an odd reaction from the warrior of Chaos:

“Tifa: The way you showed up and fought that guy off. It was a pretty cool thing to watch. You were like a hero, charging in to save the girl.
Cloud gasps at her words. She doesn’t notice” (Dissidia 012: Treachery of the Gods, report 5: “Unexpected Fulfillment 2”).

On another note, Cloud knows he will have to fight Tifa once the Cosmos-Chaos conflict comes to a head, as they are on opposing teams. He thinks to himself:

“Once [her] memories return, [she]’ll lose the will to fight just like I have. So... Before that can happen, I have to act...” (Dissidia 012: Treachery of the Gods, report 5: “Unexpected Fulfillment 2”).

In order to end the cycle of the conflict and to avoid fighting Tifa, Cloud decides to try and defeat Chaos himself. Predictably, Cloud is no match for the deity. As he dies, Cloud pleads the following to the goddess Cosmos:

“Cosmos, goddess of harmony. If you can hear me, listen to my plea. I beg you. Save her. Save my friend… Tifa.”

Cosmos hears him and responds immediately:

“Cosmos: An end to this conflict, and a life spared? This is your heart's desire? If your will remains unchanged, I shall bring you here when the battle draws to a close. Cloud. My chosen" (Dissidia 0.13: Treachery of the Gods, report 7: “Unexpected Fulfillment 3”).

Cloud’s wish is granted by Cosmos: the first phase of the conflict ends without Tifa getting hurt, and she is sent away from the suspension world of DFF before the second phase begins. Cloud is saved from death, and Cosmos enlists him into her team of warriors for phase two: this time, Cloud is fighting on the good side.
Now we enter phase two of the war. Cosmos tells her team of ten core world warriors that in order to save the world from Chaos’ destruction, they must collect what she describes as crystals containing the power to persist through darkness. I call these the “DFF crystals”. There are ten DFF crystals in total: one for every warrior in Cosmos’ group to find. To obtain their crystal, each hero must overcome a trial that will confront them with whatever personal struggle they faced in their core world; if they prove themselves worthy, their DFF crystal will appear to them. On one hand, some warriors’ DFF crystals simply take the form of the crystals found in their core world. For example, Onion Knight’s DFF crystal looks to be nothing more than one of FFIII’s elemental crystals, which hold little to no personal significance to him. On the other hand, some warriors’ DFF crystals symbolize something more personal to their respective warriors. For instance, Cecil’s DFF crystal looks to be one of FFIV’s dark crystals, which specifically represent the dichotomy of light and darkness he struggles with in his core world’s plot line. Cosmos describes the quest for the DFF crystals as follows:

“Cosmos: The crystals embody the strength to face despair. With ten gathered, there is hope yet to save the world. The path to your crystal will be perilous... and different for each and every one of you. But you must believe in and follow your own path. Even if you know not where that path leads" (Dissidia 013: Light to All, prologue: “A Final Hope”).

From this exposition, simply keep in mind that: Cloud must find his crystal by overcoming a personal trial, and his crystal may have the appearance of an object in OG that’s important to him.
Once the team is debriefed on their mission, Cloud remains reticent to fight; he doesn’t much like the mysterious nature of this conflict. Not knowing exactly what they’re all fighting for is clearly bothersome to the swordsman, and the idea of thoughtlessly engaging in battles leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Fellow warrior Firion understands that without a reason to fight, Cloud’s heart just isn’t in it. He imparts upon Cloud that he must have a dream he’s fighting to protect, something he wants to see come true, to motivate him to stop Chaos from destroying all existence. Unfortunately, Cloud doesn’t have a dream to preserve, or can’t find one for himself:

“Cloud: I've looked, but I'm still empty-handed. And without a dream, what do you suppose I should do? […] Maybe what I'm looking for... isn't here” (Dissidia 0.13: Light to All, chapter 1: “Beyond Doubt”, “Gateway of Good and Evil”).

Another fellow warrior, Cecil, expresses worry for Cloud, whose response evokes the main theme of FFVII OG:

“Cecil: Everyone's worried, Cloud. But... Do you shoulder a larger concern?
Cloud: Concern... Maybe a sense of loss" (Dissidia 0.13: Light to All, chapter 1: “Beyond Doubt”, “Beyond the Continent”).

Whatever Cloud is looking for “isn’t [there]”, and he feels “a sense of loss”: Cloud’s motivating dream has been lost to him. This is later reasserted in a conversation with Terra, another warrior of Cosmos:

“Terra: And you, Cloud... What's your dream?
Cloud: I've lost mine" (Dissidia 0.13: Light to All, chapter 3: “The Chosen Battle”, “Gateway of True Intent”).

Later, Cloud encounters and fights Sephiroth, who is still a part of Chaos’ team. Sephiroth is defeated, but not before he’s taunted Cloud with his habitual puppet talk. However, Cloud remains strong and refutes Sephiroth’s manipulation, asserting that only he can determine his own path. This must’ve been Cloud’s personal trial, because his crystal appears at that very moment: it is a small, light green orb that looks like materia from his core world. Having pocketed his crystal, Cloud decides he must find his own reason to fight. Interestingly, his search is depicted as intertwined with Fate:

“Cloud: Even if I have my doubts... I have to find my own answer […] Until then, I'll keep fighting.
Narration: The warrior has vowed to keep fighting— and keep fighting he will […]. Etched in destiny, his quest for answers continues on” (Dissidia 0.13: Light to All, chapter 1: “Beyond Doubt”, “Gulg Gateway”).

Later, the nemeses meet again in a segment called “Recurring Tragedy”. Their interactions here are particularly interesting. Sephiroth speaks of making Cloud suffer through despair and pain as though referencing their history together:

"Sephiroth: This disease called hope is eating you alive. The world of suffering was born out of such half-baked ideals.
Cloud: If that's the case, I have to endure the suffering. There's no moving on if I run from it.
Sephiroth: If that is what you wish for, you shall drown in the pain. I'll lead you to true despair. [My] shadow is burned into your heart. We'll meet again, Cloud. I'll keep coming back— as long as you are who you are."
Sephiroth disappears. Cloud looks out into the distance before the scene ends.
“Cloud: No thanks. The one I really want to meet is…” (Dissidia 013: Light to All, epilogue: “Conclusion of a Cycle”, “Recurring Tragedy”).

This final line suggests Cloud has finally found a reason to fight: he wants to meet someone unspecified.
Finally, after the war has ended, we arrive at the final cutscene of DFF. I will let you read the full script, with notes added by me in bold behind the spoiler censors. Please do not read my notes if you do not wish to encounter spoilers for FFI, FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFV, FFVI, FFVIII, FFIX or FFX:

“[The] heroes are all standing together in a grassy field with a forest behind them. Birds are chirping, the sun is shining brightly, and the wind is blowing gently. The heroes look around them in awe. They're all holding their crystals.
WoL: The battle has come to an end...
Tidus notices that his crystal has begun to emanate a blue glow.>! His crystal is a movie sphere from his core world of FFX: a capsule containing sounds and images that people record for later viewing. Tidus’ crystal likely represents the specific movie sphere recorded by his love interest Yuna, which revealed that she’d loved him from the beginning.!<
Tidus: Gotta go, huh...
The blue glow transfers to him as well. He turns to look at the others
[…] Tidus grins at the others, then turns and runs toward a nearby lake. He leaps into it in a manner reminiscent of [the events] of FFX. He vanishes as he descends toward the lake.
Zidane: We're not vanishing. We're returning—
Zidane is sitting on a tree limb as he says this. His crystal begins to glow gold, as does he. His crystal is shaped like a highly important ‘progenitor of all life’ crystal from his core world of FFIX.
Zidane: — to where we're supposed to be.
Zidane spins around the tree limb with the use of his tail and launches toward the sun. He's lost to view.
A white feather then drifts down from that direction and Squall catches it. The feather is reminiscent of his love Rinoa Heartilly, whose character symbol is a white feather. In fact, Squall’s crystal looks like a mix of his revolver gunblade from FFVIII and Rinoa’s feather motif. [Squall glows blue.]
Squall: Perhaps we can go on a mission together again.
Squall vanishes.
Cloud is then visible, standing in [a] flower field. The flowers are white and yellow. Cloud has his crystal, a light green materia from his core world of FFVII, in hand.
Cloud: [(Chuckles shortly, like a scoff)] Not interested.
Cloud walks off into the flower field, gaining a green glow. He vanishes.
A snowflake then falls into Terra's right hand as her crystal begins to glow pink. The flames drawn on her crystal represent her power, which is connected to the element of fire: her character arc in FFVI.
Terra: I think I've learned how to keep going. Thank you— and take care.
Terra glows pink and then vanishes. Bartz throws a stick. He's glowing pink as well.
Bartz: When you're having the most fun, that's when time always flies. His crystal is the Adamantite from his core world of FFV.
Bartz vanishes.
Cecil: It's mine to pass on—
A moon appears behind Cecil and goes through its phases as he begins to glow blue. His crystal has shadowed and illuminated parts, representing the duality of his character, which is central to his personal arc in his core world of FFIV. It also represents his brother Golbez, who has chosen the darkness. Cecil considers his familial bond with Golbez his guiding light and hopes to be with him someday.
Cecil: — this strength I've gained from everyone.
Cecil vanishes.
Onion Knight hugs his crystal and looks up toward the sky. His crystal is shaped like those found in his core world of FFIII**.**
Onion Knight: Everyone... thank you!
OK briefly glows blue and then vanishes.
There are wild roses at Firion's feet. He and WoL are looking toward the sky. WoL suddenly begins walking away while Firion looks down and sees the roses.
Firion: This isn't the end. Another dream is waiting to begin.
His crystal is the color of the wild roses that were at the center of his dream and of his motivation to fight Chaos. The roses are also the emblem of the Rebel Army he was a part of in his core world of FFII. His crystal is shaped like Pandaemonium, the final dungeon of his core world story. Firion gains a violet glow and then vanishes.
WoL is walking through the field and then comes to a stop. He's looking at something.
WoL: May the light forever shine upon us.”

As you can see, everyone’s crystal is very important to the story of their core world, and in the cases of at least Tidus, Squall, Terra and Cecil, the crystals represent something very personal. What about Cloud and his crystal, then? What about the dream he lost and the person he wants to meet? Let’s begin analyzing to answer these questions.
III. c) ii. Fact Analysis
Firstly, it’s clear to me that the Cloud that appears in DFF is a post-OG Cloud, given how many plot points from OG he interacts with. I’m reticent to say whether or not this post-OG Cloud is dead like in FFT, as he recovers many of his memories of OG during DFF and there is no evidence of him having passed away and joined the Lifestream.
The second thing I’d like to point out is Cloud’s strange reaction when Tifa compares him to a hero who swoops in and saves the girl from the bad guy. Cloud gasps, indicating that her words mean something to him; the trope Tifa references must therefore be included somewhere in the FFVII OG plot-line. Some of you are surely ahead of me by now, having realized that only the tragic antithesis of this trope appears in OG: Cloud is unable to save Aerith from Sephiroth (disk 1, chapter 28). Whether or not DFF Cloud remembers Aerith herself at this point, it’s clear he recalls the pain and guilt of losing Aerith to Sephiroth.
Next, let’s address Cloud’s lost dream: to meet an unspecified person. It seems Cloud is aware at this point that in OG, he was eternally separated from the person he dreams of meeting. So, who was he separated from in his core world? Who can he never meet again, even if his team of warriors defeats Chaos and Cloud returns to the realm of FFVII? There are a few options —his mother, his father, Zack, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, and any other person he knew who died—, but the sheer narrative weight that Aerith’s untimely death carries makes it clear who he truly wants to meet. This is corroborated by Cloud’s “I think I can meet her… there” line in OG (disk 3 chapter 3), by FFT Cloud’s search for Aerith during his appearance in Ivalice, and by Cloud’s strange reaction to Tifa’s comparing him to a hero who swoops in and saves the girl from the bad guy. All the available evidence suggests that Cloud’s dream is indeed to reunite with Aerith, and that this dream is “lost” to him because she was killed by Sephiroth (disk 1, chapter 28). This would also explain the title of the DFF segment “Recurring Tragedy”, since as we all know, the ultimate tragedy of FFVII OG is Aerith’s death. Considering Sephiroth was the one to take Aerith away from Cloud, Sephiroth’s threats of drowning him in despair in “Recurring Tragedy” only solidify this interpretation of Cloud’s lost dream.
Finally, we arrive at the ending cutscene. Cosmos’ warriors return to where they belong to try and accomplish whatever dream they held as motivation during the Cosmos-Chaos conflict, each carrying their DFF crystal. Cloud is shown standing in a field of white and yellow flowers and walking deeper into it with a light green materia in hand. Why was a white and yellow flower field chosen to represent DFF Cloud’s dream? The answer is obvious. White and yellow flowers symbolize Aerith: she sold Cloud a yellow blossom upon first meeting him in OG (disk 1, chapter 1), and her yellow and white flowerbed cushioned Cloud’s fall when the two reunited in the Sector 5 church (disk 1, chapter 4). What’s more, we have the iconic credits video of the original cut of Advent Children to refer to, wherein Cloud is seen driving near flower fields. Aerith stands there (3:20), seemingly waiting for him. Here’s what Nomura had to say about this credits scene:

"[...] we filmed the video for the ending credits in Hawaii. There are fields of flowers on both sides of the road, and the colors —yellow and white— are the same as the flowers in Aerith's church […]. With Aerith, 'flowers' have been her image throughout the series” (FFVII Reunion Files, “Countdown to Reunion”, “Stories from CG Production”, page 87).

Even in the Advent Children Complete cut of the film, where Aerith is not shown standing in the field, the flowers and their symbolism of Aerith remain. That being so, it’s more than fair to say that the white and yellow flowers in DFF’s ending cutscene serve as yet another confirmation that Cloud’s dream is to be with Aerith.
With all of this established, we can address the nature of Cloud’s DFF crystal. As we established, every core world has its own version of a crystal, each possessing a distinct appearance, function and meaning. Materia are the crystals of FFVII, so one could be satisfied by the proposition that Cloud’s DFF crystal is simply meant to represent a random materia. However, I think Cloud’s crystal is specifically the White Materia, as it represents Aerith’s sacrifice, her importance to the plot and what she died fighting for. If any one object symbolizes her death, it’s the White Materia; it’s even given closeups during the event (2:33-3:02). Besides, unlike any other materia in FFVII, the White Materia is known to glow a light green when Holy has been activated:

“Bugenhagen: If [the prayer] reaches the planet, the White Materia will begin to glow a pale green” (FFVII OG, disk 2, chapter 15).

Here are pictures of the White Materia in OG and Advent Children, and two pictures of Cloud's DFF crystal (in order) so you can compare for yourself:
https://preview.redd.it/0qtumfeyfq0d1.jpg?width=386&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3995f010738c83fca0c5842a0564d0a9ad206dfd
https://preview.redd.it/0kj525tzfq0d1.jpg?width=1144&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=575573ef1d2c937635cf569d4a376886a24b384c
Cloud's DFF Crystal
Cloud’s DFF crystal
So far, in both suspension world games we’ve examined (FFT and DFF), Cloud is searching for Aerith. As a final note on DFF, it may interest you to know that codirector of the Remake trilogy Toriyama was actually a writer for DFF: he may have carried some themes from DFF to Remake…
III. d) Detour: The Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Farewell Exposition
Before we hop onto the next suspension world, let’s return to ours for a quick detour: the 2018 Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Expo. Themed with farewells and tragedy, this expo showcased the heartbreaking goodbyes featured in different FF games. Artwork, clips, quotes and images aplenty here! As the highly anticipated Remake was going to be coming out approximately a year and a half later, the FFVII section of the expo featured a few sneak peek Remake designs. This means the expo was at least partly curated with the Remake trilogy in mind; there could be interesting material in the FFVII section of the expo related to Remake. Let’s dive in!
Unsurprisingly, the focus of the FFVII section is Cloud and Aerith, since she is the loved one he lost in OG. Zack is also given a mention, however Aerith was the glaringly central star of the show. To showcase how important Aerith’s farewell in particular was to the expo, the FFVII portion was introduced by a photo of Cloud lowering Aerith into her watery grave and a video of her tragic death:
Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Farewell Exposition, FFVII Introduction
The description under the video screen reads:

“She was gone in the blink of an eye. But the pain never went away.
Aerith awoke the ultimate magic to protect the planet and the people she loved. Yet her life came to a sudden end at the hands of Sephiroth, a man bent on seeing the world destroyed. Even the usually stoic Cloud couldn’t hide his grief at the unexpected death of an irreplaceable companion. ‘My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning.’ True words, revealing Cloud’s deep sorrow” (Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Exposition).

Conveniently enough for us, the expo’s tagline is “Who is the person you want to meet again?” Given that Aerith holds the spotlight in the FFVII section of the expo, it’s clear who SE is telling us Cloud wants to reunite with. Recall Cloud’s unfinished line in DFF: “The one I really want to meet is..." (Dissidia 013: Light to All, epilogue: “Conclusion of a Cycle”, “Recurring Tragedy”). We theorized that he must be referring to Aerith, and now, we are certain.
The expo also had pamphlet descriptions of the farewells depicted. Here is the general summary of FFVII‘s farewell story according to that pamphlet:

“The story follows the lead character Cloud, but it is the heroine, Aerith, who opens Cloud’s eyes and helps bring him closer to understanding the mystery that is his past. Through her, we draw closer to the truth of the story.
This scene, in which the heroine Aerith is lost, is easily the most shocking and tragic in the story. No one expected to say goodbye to such a major character 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).

It’s interesting that SE would mention the rumors of Aerith’s revival circulated by players back in 1997, especially as fans were awaiting Remake’s release…
In light of everything we’ve analyzed so far, it can be said that between FFT (1997) and this farewell expo (2018), SE has consistently demonstrated that reuniting with Aerith is post-OG Cloud’s goal. That’s a period of over two decades— two decades of wishing, seeking, longing in real-world time for this character. This is a huge long-term commitment for SE to make, and you can bet the devs don’t take it lightly. Again and again, once the events of the OG game have ended, Cloud is shown to desire a reunion with Aerith. This ever-present and ever-insistent theme will become very important to us later in this analysis.
(continued in part 3)

My boyfriend and I are both 30. We met last year, Aug30 and dated for months and became official on January 1st. A little background lang, I live alone in a condo and he visits me daily when we were just dating pa until we became official. So, last year when we were just dating pa(not official) I clearly remember this day when he visited me at my place, it was the coronation day of Miss Universe yung nanalo si Ms. Nicaragua. So I borrowed his ipad kasi I can put it at the table kasi may stand instead of phone na hinahawakan lang tapos that time I was watching live sa Fb, so i sent the link from my phone to his messenger so I can just watch it directly sa ipad. While I was watching sa ipad nya hindi kasi naka full screen. Na noticed ko lang sa right side parang may suggested na mga profile like except from his mom and dad’s profile meron then 1 person dun always suggested which is si (ex) pala kasi like sa right side ng screen parang like recommended talaga yung profile like( “ex commented to, ex like..”) yung mga ganyan. That was the day I found out na ex nya pala yun. Kasi pansin ko din si fb kung sino ang profile na vinisit mo palagi mag aapear talaga sya mostly sa profile mo like “yung shortcut”.. Out of curiosity, i visited her profile and saw that she’s already in a relationship, and I knew the guy from a previous company. So, mas na curious pa ako then when you try to search kasi sa fb makikita mo history sa “recent searches, visits” at that time nakita ko na my bf still visits his ex’s profile once i a while maybe 3-5x since the day we started seeing. I just told him after ng Ms. U, na “I think I know na sino ex mo, is it (name) noh? He didn’t deny naman and just ask n how did i know, and i just casually said na because sa fb mo sya ang top suggested profile together with your mom and dad, meaning you always visit their profile, that’s it. I didn’t ask anything na.
Then maybe a month or so, we were open to giving access to our phones. One day, while I was browsing some photos, android kasi phone nya so medyo daming albums, meron like “google photos”, so when I went to click it, meron dun another gmail account with more photos, so while I was scrolling, i saw a photos of them, and when I returned the phone I intentionally left it to the photos and did not bother to exit so para when he open he would know that I saw the photos. I did not confront him or anything just waited for him to say something pero wala. Then a few days after I went to check the photos again, the other account was logged out na. I asked him, bakit na logout yung ibang account and he said wala daw sya ginalaw at wala nman daw ibang acct, i told him anong wala nakita ko pa nga photos nyo ng ex mo sa acct na yun sabi nya hindi naman nya ni logout. So ayun, i just dismissed it.
Fast forward, we rarely check each other’s phones na. We had disagreements, away bati in our relationship just like a normal couple but never this. So just this Monday may 13th. I decided to check his gallery. I saw some retrieved old google photos na sa album nya. So I when checked the account I saw the other account na login na ulit, so I opened it and saw their photos again. So while he was lying down, even though I feel hurt na and medyo nag shake na hands ko I calmly said , wow “grabi yung glowup ng ex mo ngayon, like ang layo2 before grabi sobrang puti na” Pero without looking up, he said “yeah, because at that time dami nyang nilalagay sa face nya kaya daming sugat2. Like, hello is that the right thing to say to your gf? Instead of saying, sorry hindi ko pala na delete yung photos because this or that or why i I decided to keep it. He also insisted he didn’t see the photos and I was like how come you knew exactly which photos I was referring, also yan nga una nag aapear eh when you opened that account. I continued to browse the photos and he was looking as if proud na proud pa. He let me continued making side comments and until I saw video nya he was calling her ex their endearment. Then I said, “sus gusto nya palang endearment ****, ako ang dami ko ng sinuggest like baby, babe, love to the point na ginawa ko ng friend, bro and brader, kaya ayaw iba pala ang gusto, kaya pala hanggang first name basis pa rin tayo. Sana all, pati sa mga photos nyo ikaw mismo nag tatake directly pero tayo ni walang halos photos, buti nlang talaga hindi ko din pinipilit mag take tayo ng photos” tapos defend pa saying hindi naman ako ang gusto ng tawagan sya naman” I got annoyed and added more side comments saying na maybe ganyan talaga pag nasa tamang tao, mas nag go-glow naalagan natin ang selves natin, baka cgro we both look stress because we’re not at the right partner. Kaya siguro palagi mo vinisit ang profile ng ex mo kasi di kapa naka move on or maybe ng hihiniyang ka because she’s so happy with her partner now, traveling together.. Between, our argument he said “do you know when was that(referring to the photos) and what we’ve been through?”, “I don’t care about them kung anong gingawa nila and he keep shouting at this point, I’m trying to remain calm because nakakahiya sa neighbors ko kaya even if want to shout back I can’t, instead I sinabi wag ka mag scandalo dito, hindi mo ito place, hinaan mo boses mo”.. He calmed and took his phone put of my hand and deleted the photos. When he did, sinabi ko oh bakit mo dinelete nayiha kapa, kanini proud na proud kapa. He just stood and left. I went to msg him and showed him a screen recording of deleting all our photos and said this how easy to delete photos, it’s less than 1 minute and he should delete our photos too. I also told him that we need to talk in the morning . I have so many questions. He said he’ got diarrhea so we video call, and it turned to argument again, he said shouted at me and cursed me a lot like big time! I never had a partner who cursed me before so i felt attacked and very disrespected like i never expected that it would come from a partner, haven’t heard from him not even sorry. So yesteday, I messaged him saying “Was it worth it? Worth it ba yung pag shout and pag cursed mo sakin over your past? Not even sorry or proper explanation. Ito pala gusto mo style disrespectful and bastos. Then I’ll give it back to you” right after sending the message I blocked him.
Did I overeact or valid yung ginawa ko? Sa true lang gusto ko gumanti ng insults and hurtful words, pero na realized ko na sayang sa oras but if he ever come to my place, feel ko, makapagbibitaw din talaga ako ng insults

Have you ever been in a position where your LO was never someone you knew, never someone you interacted with, maybe they showed serious signs they wanted to at least engage in conversation with you like move down an entire train car to be right next to you?
Maybe you were a new father, struggling with the fact that you hated the partner you had a kid with before they were even born, felt the mutual vibe with LO but couldn't do anything about it even just say hello, as it would ruin your entire life?
Maybe your LO disappeared for months, and you used the time to try to fix yourself and your existing relationship, but your significant other refused to do anything meaningful to contribute? So you doubled down on LO even though you hadn't seen them in months?
And then out of nowhere, bam, there's LO AGAIN!? A week later, a SECOND TIME, three weeks after that, a THIRD? And you know what they say about three, it's perfect, it is completion, it is a confirmation of a pattern.
But then LO does this super scripted ass shit of having a boy on the phone, and "my supervisor gave me a [reference]" for some other job. So you smile and sincerely ask, "how was your day?" And she says, "it was great, and now I'm seeing my boyfriend!", so you say "that's really awesome, he sounds great" and give the most genuine smile like I really hope you're telling the truth and you have the best boyfriend in the fucking world because you deserve nothing less than that. And she moves over to the other seat because of "the sun" (even though the sun is more intense on the other side?)
Then she's speaking some other language entirely and you think damn I probably should have learned more Chinese or picked a different dialect of Chinese because I'd actually understand what the fuck is being said right now 🙈🤣
Then she's almost sulkingly moving forward on the platform of her town as if it even hurt her a tiny bit to play out these scenes.
I kept a bright smile on my face the entire time breaking this unwanted NC, dude. I was not prepared at all to break this shit, but it was the first time in a year where I was like I don't give a fuck anymore, I'm not sitting in limbo anymore. Maybe she was expecting I'd get mad or jealous or some dumb shit but I just didn't. I couldn't. This was the first time in my life I saw a complex and flawed (severely flawed) human being instead of some deity when it comes to her and I'm even more hooked than before. She's even more beautiful and flawed as a human being than the LO version of her in my daydreams.
So now my only mission is to grow. I'll become beyond proficient with finances, I'll double down with vanity and lose weight, gain muscle mass, do everything that I can personally do to become the best version of me so that even if she never shows up again I am just the best version of me I can be. I'm hoping that if she ever does show up again, she is so astounded with what I've built myself up to thanks to my limerence over her and my jealousy for a fictitious boyfriend or arch nemesis or whatever lol
It pissed me off the train waited 10x as long to begin moving like c'mon I'm too old to make suicidal threats or gestures, I even joked in the past the commuter train has too good of brakes to ever jump in front of I'd need a fuckin freight train if I was at that level again 💀 thankfully I'm nowhere near, I am in my selfish villain era and I will get what I want, meaning I will become irresistible

This guide is bought to you by a one-time chair and several sites. Feel free to add your experiences and tips in the comments.
Stepping Into The Committee
1. Drop the expectations. A debate will mostly not turn out to be exactly how you want it to be. There will be bad debates that stray far from our expectations and to be a good chair, you have to learn to award the delegates who performed well in this scenario and this scenario alone, even if the debate didn't go according to your expectations. This point is especially important in beginner committees where you will be seeing disordered speeches and confusing position papers.
2. Learn to adapt to speaking styles. There may be a variety of different styles and accents in the room and you mustn't ignore them because of such reasons.
During The Debate
1. Take notes of speeches. If you have time, write out your feelings about the speech (whether it was unique or a feature of the speech that caught your eye)
2. You will find quiet/beginner delegates on the committee. At instances like this, its important that you encourage them, explain them the things they don't understand but at the same time you have to make sure that you don't tell them what to do but how to do it. The most important part of being a chair is to keep a balance between the talkative delegates and the quiet ones.
3. Be objective. Delegates may try to flatter you but don't forget to be fair when it comes to judging the debate.
4. Walk around the room during unmods or you'll stagger in marking lobbying criteria. Ask delegates about their progress, ask about the sponsors, and take note of how each bloc behaves (is the leader ignorant of the others' ideas? Does the bloc follow foreign policy? etc)
Awards
1. Most awards are decided on certain criteria which usually fall into these broad categories
Speeches and policies
Lobbying and unmods
Resolution Paper (influence and writing)
Position Paper (not always judged)
Country representation
Frequency of speech
Decorum
2. There will be delegates that "shine out" but that doesn't necessarily mean they deserve an award. I had one instance of a delegate who incorporated several policies and did extensive research on initiatives but all of those were completely irrelevant to the agenda.
Feedback
1. As a chair you have to observe what each delegate is strong in and what they are weak in. Make sure you have something to say to each delegate about their performance in the committee.
Links
This is a list of phrases that will come handy:
https://www.wisemee.com/mun-chairing-script/

Hi, I am not sure how to properly post stuff here. So please feel free to tell me to make adjustments. Reposting it since previous post told me to add something at the later part of the post.
I'll cut it short.
Mali ba na masaktan ako at magselos ako sa isang artista?
My girlfriend and I went to a local event in my GF's hometown. The town Mayor paid celebrities to come into town and do some performances, that type of stuff.
One of the male celebrities, for his performance, asked girls to be on stage and perform with him. He saw my girlfriend and he grabbed her to come with him to stage.
Instinctively, I tried to stop it, but seeing my girlfriend very eager and happy to join, I decided to let it be and she went up on the stage with the guy celeb.
At the start, they were just asking simple questions to lighten up the mood etc. But things started to get uncomfortable for me yung sa dance part na. It was sexual, or at least it looked liked and felt like that to me.
They were intimately looking at each other, the guy was hugging her from the back, with his face on her neck while they were dancing, and then the guy made her turn around and carried her (like dawn zulueta type of thing), while touching her legs, and to top it all off, after the dance was over, the guy gestured to take off his jacket and belt to indicate na he was horny "in a fun and laughable way". Overall, I was very uncomfortable, parang natulala nalang ako at nanginig sa galit, and the cheers from the audience made me dizzy. They were having fun, they were all entertained, kinilig silang lahat. Except for me, I was there, on the point of breaking down. And the worst part of it all? All those intimate and sexual stuff they did, my girlfriend looked very happy and comfortable doing it.
So she went back to our seat, and then her and her girl friends were shrieking na para bang kinikilig silang lahat. She was very happy and proud of what she did. She tried to talk to me and my friends teased us na "lagot ka pag-uwi", I just smiled and went to my phone, preventing tears from dropping.
Fast forward, the event ended and we got home. I confronted her about it, we had an argument and I told her about how disrespected and uncomfortable I felt. She got mad and told me na all of it was just for fun, for entertainment purposes lang daw. Sabi pa niya "ano gusto mo gawin ko? bumababa sa stage at maging KJ?" She told me na I was being OA kasi nga bakit ko daw pagseselosan ang artista na "hindi naman kami magkakatuluyan nun". I was mad, but I was not vocal enough about it kase I was so drained. Ang sakit lang, kasi she was very proud of what she did, she posted it on her facebook semi bragging about it, and the way she responded to the comments and replies felt like it was one of her greatest achievements in life.
Nakikitulog kami sa parents niya that time, but I decided to leave her that night, I just waited for her to fall asleep and I got out of bed and drove 4 hours back into my hometown. I left a message for her and decided to block her right after.
I felt so lost, and what's worse is that, all of her friends, in which na kasama namin sa event messaged me days after that I am being silly and being unreasonable, and even her family is justifying her actions saying na it's not a valid reason for a break-up.
Side note, I am paying for all their bills sa family nila, (internet, water, house, groceries and even medication maintenance) , siguro that's part of the reason why they are telling me to stick with her through the end and pagusapan muna ang lahat, it may seem unrelated to the topic on hand pero di lang kasi mawala sa isip ko na out of all the things I am doing for them, I don't event get a single ounce of respect.
Sorry guys, ako ba talaga ang mali?
Ako ba yung gago for ending things with her right away? Unreasonable ba talaga na nagselos ako sa artista?

this is not a fan theory, I'm currently working on, making a script for how Id do a warriors adaptation, and this is just an idea i had. Tigerstar was abandoned as a kit by his father, and received ruthless training by thistleclaw, along with being born with narcissistic personality disorder, didn't exactly set him up to be an all around good person. tigerpaw was always abusing himself, never letting himself take a break or allowing himself to feel the scars he'd gained, he never let himself feel anything but anger. and then he met redtail, a character who is considered by the fans to be a trans man, tigerpaw meeting someone who was so open about who they were, and never afraid to face the gunfire of their own internal anxiety, but still one of the most formidable warriors that thunderclan has ever seen, even able to stand toe to toe with tigerclaw. he was in love with redtail, they spent just about every moment together, tigerclaw even wanting to have kits with redtail. They Were In Love. but, redtail was in the way. Tigerclaw knew the path that he'd put himself on so long ago, and so, he killed redtail, and was distraught over it. unable to balance his own pride with being in love, he becomes a victim of his own narcissism. and then rusty joins immediately after, tigerclaw sees potential in him, and he also sees a Distinctive Ginger Tail. he stops focusing on ravenpaws training, instead intrigued by how he can control and hone firepaw into the best warrior he can become. at times tigerclaw is relentlessly cruel, other times he comments on how well firepaw is learning. and after tigerstar dies, firestar in a way is grateful towards tigerstars teachings, he was cruel, but was trying to turn firestar into the best warrior he could be. and what are tigerstars faint last words as we see firstars distinctive ginger tail reflected in his eyes, what else but "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." and then after the credits have rolled, we see tigerstar, waking up in a grass field. its completely night, yet you can see the grass and trees illuminated as if it were day, tigerstar looks ahead of him, and sees a warm looking calico near the edge of a forest, the calico gets up, and slowly starts making his way towards tigerstar, and he does the same. after a few moments they're both in a dead sprint towards each other, wev'e never seen tigerstar move Near that fast, they both crash into each others embrace, tigerstar is sobbing like a kit, and redtail has a calm flow of tears running down his face. tigerstars crys sound less like emotional destraught, more like raw physical pain, as he scream im sorry, over an over and over again. hes finally dead, his long, painful is finally over, and he gets to be with redtail, he doesnt have to live with that regret anymore.

So about a few months back, i started talking to this girl, it all started when i borrowed her sharpener, we talked. and a few months after she asked if she could come with a few of my friends on this movie we've been itching to see, and after we got paired with each other on a school project, which i didn't finish, and ultimately ghosted her. but she just swapped groups and dismissed it for some reason
after a month, we started talking again. legit everyday we would, the whole day, while i eat. while i do my homework, then on march, she confessed her feelings that she liked me. although only recently. she was originally looking for friends but found me peculiar as i was an understanding and a nice person, we dated and after a few days, we decided to tell our parents, they understood too but we made a promise to focus on studies and not make an early family. which we weren't even planning to but we understood
she was caring, she understands, and she doesn't have temper tantrums or mood swings, she's perfect, she's introverted, she's my type. she's the 10/10 ive always dreamt about. she doesn't mock me of my looks, she compliments me, we have the same likes. dislikes, we both play roblox, she's basically the girl version of me
although one problem, i usually have this toxic trait of being jealous to other people when they talk to my close friends, and it seems to intensify when she talks to other people, i don't know how to solve this. ive tried telling this to my parents and they just said "stop overthinking, calm yourself"
I told her about the jealous part and she understood and never tried talking to other people again, i feel like controlling her with that and i don't want to do that to her. but at the same time i hate it when she laughs at jokes that our other classmates tells to her. i can't understand myself
But theres more, i also have this toxic trait of "self sabotaging", i would create fake scenarios where it would make her jealous. but she seems to be unaffected for the most part, except for that one time where i hurt her heart. but i swore to never talk to the "person" again and we never talked about it since.
Am i going crazy? is this the product of multiple years of being gaslighted into doing things, is my mind subconsciously doing this? because whatever i do. whatever restrictions i put on myself, i always make up fake scenarios, whether its harmful ones up to ones where you are gonna question every single thing I've told you.
is this because i fear that i may be replaced easily? because im thin, i have no muscle. but i already told that to her and she promised that she wont replace me, and it wouldn't explain the gaslighting.
And no, im not gaslighting this whole post, im genuinely looking for help.
So I'm here on the teenager sub reddit to see if anyone has tips and advice on how to overcome this.

I guess I need to preface this that I've always been really androgynous, and that's something I really lean into. Like, not to be self-aggrandizing, I think I have this stemme "young Marlon Brando" thing going for me. I used to be in amazing shape, like, pre-covid I worked out for actually 3-5 hours a day.
So I looked good, there's this whole class of women who's sexual awaking was David Bowie or Prince who are really attracted to androgyny, and I'm horrifyingly alone. This was before I was diagnosed with bipolar 1 or tentatively diagnosed with autism. My life was just a mess. I wan on an an antidepressant that made me rapid cycle, so I'd swing between extremes of being hyper-social and hypersexual and self-isolation every few weeks. I couldn't maintain any close personal relationships, and I couldn't really relate to people in general. The closest way I could approximate it was by having these elaborate scripts in my head of what to say and when, what tone to use, how much time I had to make a decision on the script, all of this to get what I wanted from that person. Like, I was such a fucking liar and manipulator. I had zero moral compass. I treated so many women like they weren't even real people because I was lonely and felt bad for myself.
And I'm doing it again. I didn't really go out for two years when I got sober, I just sat around and got increasingly out of shape. But not I can't deal with the loneliness so I'm falling back on old habits, even though I should know better now. Like, my biggest concern was getting back in shape, which I'm doing. I went out for the first time in forever last night and ended up flirting with a random drunk girl when I was stone sober. Like, what do I do? I can't stand being alone anymore but I don't know how I'm supposed to just play the normal functional adult with a social life without being a massive manipulative piece of shit.

Shortly after Final Fantasy VII hit the gaming world in 1997, Cloud Strife’s howls of grief at the loss of his beloved companion Aerith Gainsborough were echoed by droves and droves of fans. These echoes gathered in swarms, reaching the developers in the form of petition signatures, each begging the makers of the game to allow Aerith’s resurrection. Though these prayers remained unanswered —until now—, there soon came more protests: this time, fans pleaded with the developers to consider making a remake of the original game. Both of these wishes were met with considerable derision, with large chunks of the fandom calling the requests delusional— which is why the Final Fantasy world had to prepare for another meteoric hit when the Remake project was finally announced in 2015. With Kitase, Nomura, Toriyama, Nojima, Uematsu and more of the original developers at the helm, along with longtime FFVII fan-turned-developer Hamaguchi, the Remake trilogy was met with great expectations. These were nevertheless surpassed, though one aspect of the trilogy’s first entry seemed to thoroughly puzzle some and enrage others. Far and wide, the resounding questions were “What are these Whisper things?”, “Why is Cloud having visions unrelated to Nibelheim and Zack?” and “Why and how in the hell did Zack survive?”
Friends, I believe the answer lies within this post. Welcome to my literary-analysis-based theory on the Remake trilogy’s most important and most secret plot point: Cloud’s hidden mission. I want to make this fun and suspenseful to read, so I will write my analyses in the same order and manner in which I encountered them while putting my theory together. You will be reading what initially sparked my curiosity, the path I took while researching for answers, the conclusions I made every step of the way, and only then will you read my theory, after which we’ll try and apply it to the Remake trilogy so far and see if it fits! I want you to experience the rollercoaster that I did when digging through SE content to bring you this post. Thank you so much for waiting for and anticipating this analysis, and I do hope you read every word to soak in every last bit of Clerith you can get. I also hope it’s really fun and touching for you (I cried at least once making this)! Let’s embark on our adventure through the compilation, other FF games and real-life events to find out what the Remake project is truly all about and anticipate the events of part 3.
N.B.: Please be aware that I have never seen this theory navigate online, so I have no idea if anyone has ever come up with a similar hypothesis. The big reveal I’m building toward might be something you’re already aware of or suspected. In that case, I hope this post doesn’t disappoint you if you’re one of the lovely people who requested it! At the very least, it will provide you with valuable literary and musical analysis, a ton of evidence you haven’t considered yet, and hopefully, entertainment too!
WARNING: Please be careful with the censored spoiler text, because I'll be referencing other FF games in this analysis and I don't want to ruin anything for you! Obviously, this analysis contains spoilers for the entirety of the FFVII compilation. Additionally, if you're not a fan of Clerith and you've stumbled upon this post, please stop here. I would hate it if something I worked on and posted made you angry, so please don't read this analysis. I have only good intentions and I just want everyone to enjoy the FFVII world as much as they can.

I. Groundwork: The Remake Timelines Theory

Before I take you on this ride, we must lay down the framework of the Remake Timelines Theory. In this section, we’ll be reviewing the general consensus of theorizers within the fandom on timeline/multiverse shenanigans, with some added specifications on my part. Please keep in mind that because the timeline mechanics are kept quite vague by the devs, there might be certain inaccuracies in my iteration of the timelines theory. Thankfully, these potential variances won’t have any effect on the legitimacy of the theory I’ll be presenting to you in this analysis.
I. a) Sephiroth’s Plan
The premise of the Remake trilogy is widely thought to be the result of post-OG Sephiroth attempting to succeed where he failed in OG. There are six key points we need to keep in mind to understand how this was possible.
I. a) i. Sephiroth in the Lifestream
Firstly, it’s important to remember that Sephiroth is dead and located in the Lifestream before OG even begins, and remains that way for almost all of OG's duration. He is only able to operate in the world of the living via his/Jenova's control over the living Sephiroth clones. In the OG timeline then, Sephiroth is sent to the Lifestream by Cloud twice: once before the game takes place on the night of the Nibelheim incident (pre-OG), and a second time during the final battle against Sephiroth (disk 3, chapter 3). During the long period between the Nibelheim incident and Sephiroth’s rebirth at the Northern Crater (disk 2, chapter 2), he exists in the Lifestream. After his ultimate defeat (post-OG), he returns there for good.
II. a) ii. Sephiroth Unintegrated
Secondly, because he is full of hatred and unyielding determination, Sephiroth’s spirit cannot become one with the planet. After both occasions where Cloud kills him in OG, Sephiroth retains his individual will and the memories of his lifetime, remaining a separate entity in the Lifestream. He says so himself in Nojima’s Advent Children prequel novel On a Way to a Smile:

“[Sephiroth] could sense the Lifestream trying to erode his spirit— the memories of his former experiences, thoughts and emotions. If he allowed himself to be taken into the current, the being he once was would soon disseminate and disappear amongst the spirit energy cycling around the planet. [He] thought this unacceptable. The planet was to be his to rule, and to become a part of that system would be nothing short of defeat” ("Lifestream Black 1").

Combined with Bugenhagen’s basic lesson on planetology (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 19), this excerpt provides interesting information on how the Lifestream normally works. Usually, when a life returns to the planet, its individuality (personality, will, consciousness, memories, etc.) is stripped away. The trappings of a soul’s former lifetime are progressively dissolved so that all that is left is the spirit itself, ready to integrate into the Lifestream. This way, soul energy can be “recycled” by the planet to animate new lifeforms in a sort of reincarnation process. The erasure of one’s memories in the Lifestream is necessary for the creation of a brand new life, poised to make its own memories: the slate must be wiped clean, so to speak. Sephiroth’s sheer hatred for and desire to dominate the planet is enough to keep him from undergoing this process.
It is also thought that Sephiroth cannot be integrated into the Lifestream because he was conceived with the use of Jenova cells in vitro. Given that so much of his consciousness and genetic makeup originate from an alien life force, it is impossible for him to become one with the planet.
Regardless of the reason, it is precisely this persisting individuality in death that allows Sephiroth to meddle in the world of the living during the post-OG events of Advent Children, as explained to us by post-OG Aerith in On a Way to a Smile:

“[Aerith] had sensed a different presence within the Lifestream cycling around the planet. It was the vehemence of a strong will, one that would never join with the planet. She knew this consciousness. It was [Sephiroth]. A merciless spirit hidden behind a beauteous wall. That spirit was now operating from within the Lifestream. [She] sensed that he was planning to exert his influence to the surface of the planet“ ("Lifestream White 1").

I. a) iii. The Lifestream Beyond Time
Our third point is that the Lifestream has existed for as long as the planet, and has therefore touched every part of its history— including, of course, the events of OG. On that account, one could think of the Lifestream as atemporal. Considering this, it is possible for a spirit in the Lifestream to communicate with or even travel to the past, provided the necessary circumstances and/or abilities. For instance, the Aerith that appears in Cloud’s resolution scene in Remake (chapter 14) is commonly considered to be a post-OG Aerith, appearing to him from the future to try and dissuade him from falling for her. This time-defying event is made possible by the fact that post-OG Aerith’s spirit has access to the atemporal Lifestream because she's deceased. In my view, this explains why she dissolves into green light (Lifestream visual cue) at the end of the resolution scene (5:19-5:45). This is not time travel per se, but it is a manner of communication unobstructed by the one-directionality of a linear timeline that only spirits can perform.
I. a) iv. Sephiroth Beyond Time
What we’ve covered so far amounts to our fourth point. Please familiarize yourself with the graph below before you continue reading. Refer back to the graph when you encounter text in bold.
The Remake Timelines Theory: FFVII OG Timeline
As we discussed in section “I. a) i.”, Sephiroth is dead and located in the Lifestream for the duration of the green arrow and beyond point D: in the context of the OG timeline, he can only ever be considered “alive” during the period highlighted in purple. In section “I. a) ii.”, we asserted that Sephiroth retained his individual will in the Lifestream, enabling him to exert his influence on the world of the living by manipulating his clones on the surface. In section “I. a) iii.”, we covered the atemporal nature of the Lifestream, which allows post-OG Aerith’s spirit to communicate with her past, living self thanks to her Cetra abilities. Now, I will explain to you how Sephiroth was able to do virtually the same thing, albeit his lack of Cetra blood.
To the characters of the story and a fully immersed first-time player of OG, the timeline above was not always an established series of events: when they first started playing FFVII OG, the player began at point B, with nothing existing beyond it. It is only as the player moved Cloud forward that the black, arrowed timeline was drawn, accumulating lived events (or points) in Cloud’s wake. The picture you see above is only available to Cloud and to the player with hindsight. All this to state the obvious: at point B, Cloud could not know what would occur, say, at point C.
During the period highlighted in purple, Sephiroth was “alive” again, accumulating new memories on the surface of the planet and adding them to his consciousness. When he entered the Lifestream for the second time at point D, he brought these memories with him. Simply put, after returning to the Lifestream at point D, Sephiroth remembers what happened during the period highlighted in purple. However, given that the Lifestream exists beyond time, upon Sephiroth’s consciousness’ return to the Lifestream at point D, his newly acquired memories were also made available to him at all points on the green, double-arrowed line— including point A, before the OG timeline even begins at point B. So while it is true that Cloud cannot know what will occur at point C if he is only at point B, Sephiroth indeed knows what will occur during the period highlighted in purple when he is only at point A. While a living, pre-OG Aerith would be able to receive post-OG Aerith’s spirit’s knowledge through the Lifestream thanks to her Cetra powers, Sephiroth has no need for this ability. The fact that he resides in the Lifestream for practically the entire FFVII OG timeline renders the limitations of time irrelevant: as far as the FFVII OG timeline is concerned, Sephiroth exists beyond time itself.
In summary, after point D was first encountered in OG, pre-OG Sephiroth (in the Lifestream) is made aware of his eventual defeat, and begins plotting an alternate path to victory. This time, with the benefit of hindsight, he will do things differently: we experience his "second” attempt at FFVII as the Remake trilogy.
I. a) v. Sephiroth Against Fate
Of course, the Whispers stand squarely in Sephiroth’s way. This leads us to our fifth point, which Remake Ultimania describes better than I ever could:

“According to Red XIII, who gained knowledge through his contact with Aerith, ‘The Whispers are drawn to those who attempt to alter destiny’s course and ensure they do not’ […]. It would appear that what the Whispers deem to be ‘fate’ is the original story of Final Fantasy VII” (section 08 “Secrets”, “Newly Arisen Mysteries”, “What Is the Goal of the Elusive Whispers?”, page 733).

OG’s plot line is the fated timeline, and the Whispers are tasked with its preservation. They prevent alternative paths from even beginning to branch out from the OG timeline, which poses a problem for Sephiroth: he cannot win FFVII if his destiny is to lose it.
I. a) vi. Sephiroth and the Multiverse
Consequently, our sixth point is that Sephiroth must dismantle the mechanisms of fate before he can even try to accomplish his dreams of godhood.
As Sephiroth explains in chapter 14 of Rebirth, “the planet encompasses [an ever unfolding] multitude of worlds”, and these “[new worlds are born] when the boundaries of fate are breached.” Since the Whispers uphold the “boundaries of fate”, a world in which Sephiroth’s evil plans succeed can only emerge after the Whispers have been defeated. Otherwise, destiny will continue to protect the OG plot line by preventing any significant deviations. Consequently, before the party vanquishes fate, the Remake timeline and the OG timeline are one and the same: before chapter 18, Remake Barret is OG Barret, Remake Tifa is OG Tifa, Remake Hojo is OG Hojo, etc. After the defeat of Destiny, the OG timeline is no longer protected by fate: there are now an infinite number of timelines or worlds, including those we see glimpses of in Rebirth: Remake Barret is no longer necessarily OG Barret, Remake Tifa is no longer necessarily OG Tifa, Remake Hojo is no longer necessarily OG Hojo, etc. Perhaps this is why Aerith gives the party the following warning at destiny’s crossroads in Remake:

“[This] is the wall of destiny. If we go through it… if we go beyond it… then all of us will change, too” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Destiny’s Crossroads”).

I. a) vii. Sephiroth’s Plan
Now that these six points have been elucidated, we can compose a solid hypothesis on how Sephiroth plots to win FFVII.
After gaining knowledge of his eventual demise (disk 3, chapter 3), pre-OG Sephiroth began thinking of what he must do in Remake from the Lifestream. First, Sephiroth must antagonize the Whispers in the initial stages of the OG timeline. He accomplishes this by commanding his clones to commit acts that drastically violate the fated timeline, engendering plot-line deviations that the Whispers must course-correct. The most extreme example transpires in Remake’s chapter 17 when the Sephiroth clone in President Shinra’s office kills Barret, forcing the Whispers to restore the fated plot line by coming forth and reviving him. The Whispers react to Sephiroth’s prodding by rushing in to protect fate, their efforts culminating in the protective wall of destiny that surrounds Midgar in chapter 18.
Secondly, after he’s created an opportunity for a battle against the Whispers, Sephiroth must convince the party to seize it and beat fate for him. After all, a mere Sephiroth clone is probably no match for Destiny. This second step is accomplished in Remake’s chapter 18 when Sephiroth successfully tempts Cloud to breach the boundaries of fate. Now that destiny is no longer a limitation, worlds deviating from the OG timeline can finally emerge; Sephiroth has a chance at victory.
The steps Sephiroth plans to take going forward are unknowable at this stage, but we do get more hints in Rebirth’s chapter 13. At the Temple of the Ancients, Sephiroth reveals a part of his plot:

“Sephiroth: My fragmented mother, these errant worlds... All shall be one again.
Aerith: The ‘Reunion’…!”

It seems Sephiroth eventually plans to merge the worlds created by destiny’s defeat in Remake’s chapter 18. My guess is he hopes to achieve godhood in part 3 and consolidate all diverting worlds into a single timeline protected by destiny once more— only this time, his victory will replace the ending of OG as the destined outcome. If he succeeds, Sephiroth’s Black Whispers will likely replace the planet’s Whispers as the arbiters of his desired fate.
I. b) Aerith’s Intervention
But Aerith can’t let this slide unchallenged!
We know that before chapter 18 of Remake, while the OG plot-line is still protected by fate, Aerith has knowledge of its future. This is insinuated by certain slips of the tongue: for instance, when Aerith reveals she knows Cloud is a mercenary upon meeting him for the second time in chapter 8, just like she knows Tifa will ask her to retrieve Marlene at Seventh Heaven in chapter 12. In the run-up to Remake, post-OG Aerith's spirit likely sensed Sephiroth planning his second try at FFVII in the Lifestream. She’s been able to anticipate Sephiroth’s plotting in the Lifestream before, namely in the context of Advent Children:

“[Aerith] had sensed a different presence within the Lifestream cycling around the planet […]. It was [Sephiroth] […]. That spirit was now operating from within the Lifestream. [She] sensed that he was planning to exert his influence [on] the surface of the planet” (On a Way to a Smile, "Lifestream White 1").

If you’re wondering how Aerith was able to maintain her individuality in the Lifestream like Sephiroth, On a Way to a Smile provides the following explanation:

“[Aerith] was an Ancient, which explained how she was able to maintain her individuality even within the Lifestream. If she so wished she could become part of the planet at any time, but [she] thought it too early for that just yet” ("Lifestream White 1").

It is thought that, as a countermeasure to Sephiroth's scheming, post-OG Aerith’s spirit used the atemporal nature of the Lifestream to inform her past, living self (pre-OG Aerith) of this new threat to the planet. Because the Cetra can commune with spirits, pre-OG Aerith would have been able to receive post-OG Aerith’s message from the Lifestream without a problem. Essentially, pre-OG Aerith received post-OG Aerith’s memories of the fated OG timeline. As a consequence, pre-OG Aerith embarks on the OG timeline with knowledge of the fated future that demands she give her life: the player experiences this version of her in Remake.
Be that as it may, it’s unclear how much Remake Aerith is aware of. You would think she’d be completely opposed to defeating, destiny since it protects the planet, but Aerith shows ambivalence toward the idea instead. Had she gotten a clear message from her future self that she must keep fate intact, she would not have allowed the party to enter the battle against fate in chapter 18. She doesn’t seem to know what the Whispers are the first time she encounters them either. Regardless, what’s important is that the Aerith seen in Remake is the result of pre-OG Aerith receiving knowledge from post-OG Aerith via the Lifestream.
I. c) Ambiguity: Memory Transfer or Time-Travel?
There remains an ambiguity pertaining to the Aerith we see in Remake and the question of time travel. What I’ve described to you in section “I. b)” is post-OG Aerith's spirit transferring her memories to her past self through the Lifestream. However, it’s possible that post-OG Aerith’s consciousness used the atemporal nature of the Lifestream to inhabit her living OG body instead, effectively time-traveling. There is no evidence to outright refute either explanation, since the gaps in Aerith’s memories of the OG plot-line in Remake can be explained in both cases. For instance, in a memory transfer scenario, it’s possible that post-OG Aerith only communicated the most essential information to pre-OG Aerith. On the other hand, in a time-travel scenario, one could interpret the following quotes as proof that the Whispers are progressively erasing Aerith’s memories of OG as Remake advances:

“Aerith: Every time the Whispers touch me, a piece of me falls away” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Aerith Speaks”)

&

“At any rate, Aerith is perplexed at how, like a flower being scattered, something inside is being taken away by the Whispers and lost to her” (Toriyama in FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Aerith Speaks”, “Scenario Staff Q&A - Answered by Motomu Toriyama”).

This ambiguity is completely irrelevant to Sephiroth’s situation in Remake, as we established in section “I. a) iv.”.
The specifics don’t matter nearly as much as I’m impressing upon you by explaining all these little alternatives. Simply keep in mind that: regardless of why, the Sephiroth and Aerith we see in Remake know the events of the OG game because they have acquired this knowledge from the future, and the events of Remake occur squarely within the OG timeline until the Whispers are defeated in chapter 18.
So there! That’s my iteration of the Remake Timelines Theory! I hope I’ve made it clear in your mind, or at least clearer. Now that we’ve established the widely theorized premise of the Remake trilogy, we can get into our theory on its hidden premise.
II. My Initial Curiosity
My theory first burgeoned upon going through Remake for the second time. I noticed something strange going on with Cloud, something that could not be explained by the Remake Timelines Theory. Key moments in Remake Cloud’s experience of the OG timeline (aka, everything before chapter 18) stuck out to me as strange and mysterious, and certain inexplicable audiovisual cues struck me as hugely significant. It was upon watching the tear fall from Cloud’s eye during my second go at chapter 8 that I knew I had to look into this.
At the very end of Remake’s chapter 8, Cloud watches Aerith walk away from him, humming happily into the night air as she sets off to lead the way to Sector 7. According to the VA script notes, “his heart skips a beat” and watching her walk away provokes a sudden “anxiety” within him. Triggered by the familiarity of the sight, a strange sensation overcomes Cloud:

“[There’s a] close-up shot of Cloud’s fingertips (they’re tingling). He presses them to his temples (his eyes are burning). A trickle of tears quickly rolls down from the eye hidden behind his hand” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “A Midnight Ambush”).

If you’re clever, you’ll recognize these lines as a reference to the speech Cloud makes in OG following Aerith’s death at the City of the Ancients (“My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!”) (disk 1, chapter 28). In this small moment in chapter 8 of Remake, Cloud experiences a flash of the profound grief he is destined to feel upon Aerith’s fated death.
Many players immediately recognized the composition of this scene: the blue-greenish air, the straight path Aerith heads down, the sight of her walking away itself… this moment closely resembles Cloud’s Sleeping Forest dream of Aerith in OG, wherein Cloud and Aerith’s very last words are exchanged (disk 1, chapter 25). Toriyama, codirector of the Remake project, comments on this scene thusly:

“It’s possible these similarities […] cause a memory of the future to be called forth in Cloud” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “A Midnight Ambush”).

The language used by Toriyama here is strange in both the English translation and the Japanese original: the term “memory of the future” makes no sense. One cannot remember things they haven’t already experienced, so why did Toriyama use the word “memory” to describe a "future" event? Couldn’t he have simply said that Remake Cloud experiences “visions of the future” rather than “[memories]”?
Cloud experiences a few moments like these throughout the game. These pseudo-premonitions are just as markedly exclusive to Remake as the Whispers are. I did not want to dismiss them as a foreshadowing device the devs included just to elicit emotional reactions from OG players; I felt they were more important. And thus began my digging! My mission was initially to figure out what these “[memories of the future]” (MOTFs) could signify… I had no clue it would turn into what I’m writing right now.
II. a) Each MOTF and Its Context
I began by finding every one of Cloud’s MOTFs so I could better understand them.
MOTF 1 occurs in chapter 2 on Sector 8’s Loveless Street, when Cloud sees Aerith struggling against the Whispers. The VA script notes reveal that even though this is only his first time seeing her, Cloud recognizes Aerith’s face:

“Recognizing Aerith’s face causes Cloud to experience [a hallucination]. Sephiroth is suddenly standing between him and Aerith” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Encountering Aerith”).

Sephiroth then taunts Cloud with words that, according to the script notes, “[live] inside of Cloud's heart”: “You can’t protect anyone. Not even yourself”. Cloud should not recognize Aerith’s face at this point in the OG timeline, nor should he associate it with not being able to protect people.
MOTF 2 occurs in chapter 3, at the plaza in front of the Sector 7 slums support pillar. Cloud experiences a MOTF of the plate falling, which is fated to occur at a much later point in chapter 12. The Whispers float near him, “watching Cloud alertly as he sees a vision of the future” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Newly Arisen Mysteries”, “What Is the Goal of the Elusive Whispers?”, page 733).
MOTF 3 occurs in Aerith’s church at the start of chapter 8, when Aerith mentions that her mother’s materia is “not good for anything at all”. Triggered by the mention and sight of the White Materia, Cloud’s fourth MOTF takes the form of a vision: he sees quick flashes of the materia falling into the lake of the Forgotten Capital and Aerith holding her hands together in prayer. These are evidently visions of her death in OG (disk 1, chapter 28).
MOTF 4 is the one we first discussed, occurring at the very end of chapter 8 as Cloud watches Aerith walk away from him to lead the way toward Sector 7.
MOTF 5 occurs in chapter 13 shortly after the Sector 7 plate has fallen on the slums. Cloud tells Barret that Marlene is safe at Aerith’s house, and they begin heading there. As Cloud thinks about Aerith, the VA script notes describe the very next moment as follows:

“Cloud: Tifa, you know anything about the Ancients?
Tifa: I’ve heard of them before, but…
Barret walks on ahead, showing little interest in the topic.
Barret: Read a book on planetology and they’re sure to come up. They’re a tribe that cultivated the planet a real long time ago. Used to talk to it. That sort of stuff.
Cloud: That must be why the Turks were after her.
[Psychic] interference starts up.
[Cloud has a] flashback of Sephiroth from five years ago, after learning of his ancestry at Shinra Manor […].
Sephiroth [(in flashback, voice tinged with madness)]: Within my veins flows the blood of the Ancients. I am the rightful heir to this planet!
The flashback ends and Cloud looks lost in thought. The interference starts up once more. Cloud makes agonized sounds. When he opens his eyes, Sephiroth is actually standing before him.
Sephiroth: You failed again— failed to protect [her]*.
Cloud is startled. He shrinks back. Tifa watches what’s happening. The other two can’t see Sephiroth. All they see is Cloud acting frightened.
Sephiroth: But loss will make you strong. […] Isn’t that what you want?
With that, Sephiroth departs.”

*Sephiroth does not use a gendered pronoun here, because the grammatical structure of the original Japanese sentence doesn’t necessitate it. I've seen some debate as to whether the proper translation is “her” (Aerith, who’s just been kidnapped), or “them” (Jessie, Biggs or Wedge, who have seemingly just died). I believe Sephiroth was referring to Aerith for a few reasons. First, Cloud’s hallucinations of Sephiroth always appear as a response to whatever he is perceiving or thinking about at the moment. At this point in the scene, Cloud has been thinking and talking about Aerith for some time, and not about Jessie, Biggs or Wedge. The Sephiroth hallucination must therefore be referring to “her” rather than to “them”. Secondly, Cloud was never tasked with “[protecting]” Avalanche, but he was in fact tasked with “[protecting]” Aerith as her bodyguard back in chapter 8: it makes far more sense for Sephiroth to be referring to Aerith when he speaks about someone Cloud “failed to protect”. Finally, FFVII Remake Ultimania describes this piece of dialogue as “[Sephiroth aiming] these profound words at Cloud, who not only failed to prevent the tragedy in the Sector 7 slums but allowed Aerith to be abducted” (Sephiroth’s profile in section 01 “Character & World”, “Impressive Words”, page 29): the specific mention of Aerith here seals my decision to translate the line with the pronoun “her”.
Contrary to Sephiroth’s words, this is the first time in Remake that Cloud “[fails] to protect [Aerith]”, and he hasn’t “[lost]” her either— not yet, at least. So why use the words "again" and "loss"? This fifth MOTF must be similar to MOTF 1, in that Sephiroth is referring to Cloud’s guilt surrounding Aerith’s death in OG.
MOTF 6 occurs in chapter 17, in Aerith and Ifalna’s old room at Shinra HQ. The Whispers swarm Aerith as she tells the party earnestly that she wants to do everything in her power to help her friends and the planet: according to the script notes, it is at this very moment that, “for some reason, Cloud feels his chest constrict tightly” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Aerith Speaks”). In the corresponding cutscene, this unpleasant physiological reaction to Aerith’s words makes Cloud glance down at his chest with a confounded frown. This physical response to her speech about wanting to fulfill her duty to the planet implies that Cloud somehow knows deep down that saving the world will cost Aerith her life.
At this point, I noticed that five out of the six MOTFs Cloud experiences in Remake are triggered by and/or revolve around Aerith specifically, the one exception being a MOTF of the Sector 7 plate fall. One could actually argue that this MOTF revolves around Aerith too, considering the plate fall marks the first time Aerith is taken away from Cloud since reuniting with her in the Sector 5 slums church. This is more than plausible, as MOTF 5 proves that in the wake of the Sector 7 plate fall, Cloud’s main concern is Aerith (see section “II. a)”). How fitting is it, then, that the merc of few words’ longest uninterrupted piece of dialogue in all of Remake is:

“We found an underground Shinra lab where they've done human testing. This wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. I know these people, and I know they're never gonna let Aerith go. She's the last living Ancient on the planet. Think about what that means to Shinra's scientists. Especially to that son of a bitch Hojo. We're all just numbers and meat to him—“ (Remake, chapter 13).

Cloud would’ve gone on too, had Elmyra and Tifa not stopped him.
At this juncture in my research, my questions were only stacking up. What are these MOTFs? Why is Cloud the only one experiencing them? Why do all of them implicate Aerith? What did the devs hope to accomplish with their inclusion in the game? What do they mean for Remake’s story? But most importantly:
II. b) What Does Cloud Know?
The first assertion we have to make is simple, yet essential: the only reason Cloud would experience MOTFs is that whatever’s triggered them is significant to him in one way or another. Some part of him must recognize his triggers for them to be triggers at all. It’s clear he doesn’t consciously understand the meaning of his MOTF triggers, just like his Jenova triggers: for example, Cloud doesn’t know why Zack’s name causes him to experience psychic interference, but it sure does. We as players know Cloud’s MOTFs are hinting at Aerith’s fated death because of our awareness of OG, but as a character navigating the OG timeline, Remake Cloud shouldn't even be unconsciously aware of Aerith’s eventual death in the slightest! Whatever the nature of the MOTFs, it’s essential to understand that if Cloud “[recognizes]” Aerith’s face the first time he sees her, it must mean some part of him knows Aerith’s face in the first place. If this recognition triggers a hallucination of Sephiroth telling Cloud he “can’t protect anyone”, it must mean some part of him knows he was once unable to protect Aerith. The same goes for every other MOTF: subconsciously, Remake Cloud somehow has memories of the OG timeline. Most interestingly, it looks like he either only has OG memories related to Aerith, or like his OG memories of Aerith are simply the only ones prominent enough to trigger his MOTFs. Why and how does Remake Cloud have memories of OG, and why are they so focused on Aerith in particular? What does he know?
When examining a situation with no explanation, it’s wise to examine similar situations that have already been explained. Maybe the mystery of Remake Cloud’s MOTFs will become more approachable if we consider the cases of the only other Remake characters who seem to know the future: Aerith and Sephiroth. Remake Sephiroth knows the future of the OG timeline because his consciousness exists beyond time in the Lifestream, while Remake Aerith likely obtained her knowledge of the future from post-OG Aerith’s spirit via the Lifestream. But what about Cloud? Where does his weaker, fragmented knowledge come from?
(continued in part 2)

After much consideration, and planning, I am going to return to video production. When I began making videos on a weekly or monthly basis, I had plenty of free time due to the big coof. This was me learning things like scheduling, editing, how to make the microphone work, and I learned plenty through trial and error. There is a dramatic difference between my first videos and my recent ones because of this learning experience. But as I learned about how to make videos, I learned that I was wasting my time with them.
A LOT of time.
Whatever you’re thinking is a time waste for a video is not really it, unless you’ve been there and done that. During that time, I ruined my sleep schedule and would even pass up on small money opportunities, all because I thought my Youtube videos would send me into stardom. Plant a seed, watch it grow, that sort of thing. But, looking at my numbers, it was the exact opposite. Each video coming out, utilizing the keywords and subject matter as a reason to click, was essentially a false sense of activity.
Working on other people’s channels created even more false cases of activity, which created a false sense of justifying why I’m putting labor into something.
Like most artists, I was gaslighting myself into thinking that the time spent into a project was going to translate into a future income from something else. We always see these videos where it seems zero effort was put into it and it goes viral, not realizing that years of failing and group efforts were required to reach those results. And even then, a youtube video existing doesn’t cause a person to instantly gain money from that existence. I have a friend who made a viral video and he didn’t get anything from millions of views, because there was nothing to monetize. I have another friend who made a viral video, trying to recreate the magic, and nothing came of it after a year or two of trying.
Not only is it hard to receive results, but the amount of time it takes to attempt is ridiculous. I didn’t time myself, but if I knew how many hours were sunk into each video, I would probably pull out my balls in anger. The process of each video was a mess of:

1. Writing down a script (takes more than an hour to write an hour of script)
2. Recording the audio (takes more than an hour to record an hour)
3. Editing the audio (takes about double the time of whatever its recorded)
4. Making the thumbnail
5. Making the avatar
6. Collecting images
7. Collecting video clips
8. Making images and clips
9. Editing through clips that are too long
10. Adding sound effects
11. Finding and adding music
12. Waiting for it to render (usually this is where I go to do other things)
13. Rendering it AGAIN through handbrake so it’s a smaller file (quicker than waiting for uploading a multi GB file)
14. Uploading it across youtube, bitchute, and rumble

I don’t want to make this sound like I’m complaining, but this is the bare minimum effort that goes into a youtube video, not mentioning the details of how things are edited or the issues with troubleshooting. A lot of what ate up my time was realizing when things aren’t working way too late, such as how GIFs don’t register well and they slow down a larger project. Or better yet, how a large project slows down to a crawl and you have to render multiple segments separately in order to keep things running smoothly. My files, as organized as I tried to keep them, were unorganized as hell because I would set them up during production instead of before production. Then by the end of it, there would be something wrong that I would have to edit, remove, I forgot something, something vanished between saves, or even corrupted files because I moved something and didn’t realize it was part of something else.
Video editing is utter hell in the beginning, but it gets better after you look after your process and actually organize everything well.
I spent a night the other week changing up all of my files. I put them on my desktop, where I can easily access them, and away from my downloads. This is important because your downloads can be bogged down with anything you download, and eventually it becomes a massive mess of pictures, videos, game patches, or whatever else you’re downloading; all getting in the way of your actual project. You want your files to be files within files, and each file is marked clearly for its purpose and its direction. I had a million songs splayed out in different areas and couldn’t remember where they were, of course when I wanted them, all because they would get trapped in piles of other things I downloaded for later.
My file finding time is now only limited by the slowness of my computer acquiring it.
Audio began as a mess of me going through each line to make sure there was no extra noise, and having to fix anything that was too quiet or not full enough. Turns out I was making my audio way too maximized and wasting a lot of time on stuff that people wouldn’t even recognize as an issue. Now my audio mixing is done through OBS, already set up as a particular compression and volume that will stay in the acceptable range, with noise removal already set up.
My audio recording/editing time is closer to how long it takes to speak.
Developing each chapter card, clipping them together, having to find the font, typing everything out. These, along with getting sound effects working, took up too much time. What I did is make a plan to prepare all of these first, before anything else is added to the video, so that I know how many chapters there are. They don’t take that long to render, because of how short they are, and it takes way less time to do that than to shift gears at the end of the production day. Shifting gears every couple of minutes, that was wasting too much time, which is now changed to doing one specific task each session.
My “switching” time is removed, thus saving time.
Music was added in the beginning, as one of the first things. This was wrong to do, because of how many times I would want a clip where the music continues through it, only to realize that this continuation forced me to keep a massive background of editing history, which slows everything down through production. Adding music as the last bit, and after rendering, will save me minutes for every time I boot up the video editor, which saves hours over time when I’m going to have to go back and forth on video editing. My lifestyle only gives me an hour or two at a time to sit in front of the computer, and so editing will require less wait time for the process to warm up.
My rendering time will increase(as I go to do other things), but my waiting time will decrease.
Through my new process, I am also considering a different view of each video type. Recently, I saw a video about how kindle books are categorized between low, mid, and high content; related to how much effort it takes to make each one. My previous attempts were to, essentially, make high effort content as consistently as possible, which was going to be draining when these were events that came and went. Current news like Lindsay Ellis being stupid or DSP looking like a fool on Sidescrollers are incredibly time sensitive, which is why so many people stream these “news reports” instead of making high effort videos about them. And even if it was a long term type of video, we have to question if it REQUIRES that much effort to begin with.
My plans for the future are to measure how long I take with each session, what I get done, track down percentages, and measure what the longest steps are. Figuring out what’s causing a hold-up is the best way to prevent hold-ups, in the same way city builders (should) keep track of what’s causing traffic jams. Too many traffic jams? Get rid of cars or open more lanes. Keeping track of things is going to take minutes to save hours, which is something I should have practiced more on doing through my practicing year.
Videos are done with marketing in mind, because I don’t plan to make money from them. My “branding” is storytelling, art, art-related lolcows, and I guess that pesky culture war. People begged me to go fully political, but I think political is a step below philosophical, which is where I would rather go. I would rather explain the psychology and aesthetics of media, instead of repeating myself as to how offensive or woke something is. Yes, I make fun of Lindsay for being woke, but I explain why she is and where it comes from, which is something more important than some kind of drama farming that grifters do.
I would rather be a source of information than a pointless attack dog for someone above me, which is why I try to separate myself from the people who do such nonsense. I’m not with these movements, I don’t care to promote people I don’t care about, I’m not going to go easy on people just because “we’re on the same side”. Everyone gets made fun of or nobody gets made fun of, and I’m year of monkey, bitch. This monkey wants bananas and youtube is not going to supply any. But it supplies plenty of vines to swing around from, as I Donkey Kong my way from topic to topic.
Like anything else in life, videos need to be worth my time, meaning their expense needs to be dropped dramatically. Hour long, multi-hour long, these were excruciatingly hard to do. The next goal is to make sure everything is kept around 30min long, unless it’s going to be a bi-yearly 1 hour long video that will be the highlight of the year, which is where full book analysis videos come into play. The scripts for everything else will be written down as articles, with the better of the articles being made into low content videos.
Podcast style will be for low effort, being made weekly.
A new style will be for mid effort, which is where 30min of history or explanation is presented with video clips, being made monthly. Video game clips will be placed around here as well, unless they can be made bi-weekly.
And the classic, me in my room with my ASS computer, will be for the high content, for subjects that take far too long to make on a monthly basis.
This planning is still in the works, it’s an effort to create a strategy and a schedule for everything. The goal would be to place an hour a day per video, creating steps for each video, and using each other as progress reports for the bigger ones. It will be like placing smaller squares into bigger squares until the biggest square is complete, allowing me to visually determine my progress across such a subject. This is also a way for me to appear more productive, because content will be constantly coming out on a clear schedule. Only bad side about it is that this means 3 hours of my day are used for videos, and this won’t be possible for every day until content creation is my main job.
Before I can have this be a thing, it will be a slow, preemptive creation process, with smaller projects being made as my “short stories”, to then determine if I’m ready for a bigger “novel” of a project. And that’s how I have to approach video editing: the same way I would with storytelling. No more determining that length means better, or more time means more results. Now I’m going to obey the market, go for what’s expected of me, and react to feedback. If something doesn’t work, or doesn’t make a dent, I try something else.
I think that’s why people get mad at me, when they see that I am trying something else all the time. This is normal, but I’m told that I’m “an interloper” or “will never win” because I willingly give up on things that don’t work. Sorry, losers, but being unorganized and wasting my life is not worth it. I like money, and I like vaginas. If I wanted to be poor and wasting my life, I would have kept slamming my head against a wall and failing like most of what indie does.
And yes, the OPC reviews will be translated into videos, as well as my own short stories. I began as a crackpasta narrator, after all. I was thinking of putting a lot of radio drama production into my narrations, but I would want to keep them low effort until they start attracting all of the attention from their titles. A lot of people try to narrate their stories and they don’t make a spark anywhere with them. But as time goes on, and I get more videos under my belt, I could easily narrate for others, create a network, and get things going. It’s not that hard to get things working once you know what you’re doing.
The main time waste that we all fall for is chaotic activity and the lack of planning.

Hi, I am not sure how to properly post stuff here. So please feel free to tell me to make adjustments.
I'll cut it short.
Mali ba na masaktan ako at magselos ako sa isang artista?
My girlfriend and I went to a local event in my GF's hometown. The town Mayor paid celebrities to come into town and do some performances, that type of stuff.
One of the male celebrities, for his performance, asked girls to be on stage and perform with him. He saw my girlfriend and he grabbed her to come with him to stage.
Instinctively, I tried to stop it, but seeing my girlfriend very eager and happy to join, I decided to let it be and she went up on the stage with the guy celeb.
At the start, they were just asking simple questions to lighten up the mood etc. But things started to get uncomfortable for me yung sa dance part na. It was sexual, or at least it looked liked and felt like that to me.
They were intimately looking at each other, the guy was hugging her from the back, with his face on her neck while they were dancing, and then the guy made her turn around and carried her (like dawn zulueta type of thing), while touching her legs, and to top it all off, after the dance was over, the guy gestured to take off his jacket and belt to indicate na he was horny "in a fun and laughable way". Overall, I was very uncomfortable, parang natulala nalang ako at nanginig sa galit, and the cheers from the audience made me dizzy. They were having fun, they were all entertained, kinilig silang lahat. Except for me, I was there, on the point of breaking down. And the worst part of it all? All those intimate and sexual stuff they did, my girlfriend looked very happy and comfortable doing it.
So she went back to our seat, and then her and her girl friends were shrieking na para bang kinikilig silang lahat. She was very happy and proud of what she did. She tried to talk to me and my friends teased us na "lagot ka pag-uwi", I just smiled and went to my phone, preventing tears from dropping.
Fast forward, the event ended and we got home. I confronted her about it, we had an argument and I told her about how disrespected and uncomfortable I felt. She got mad and told me na all of it was just for fun, for entertainment purposes lang daw. Sabi pa niya "ano gusto mo gawin ko? bumababa sa stage at maging KJ?" She told me na I was being OA kasi nga bakit ko daw pagseselosan ang artista na "hindi naman kami magkakatuluyan nun". I was mad, but I was not vocal enough about it kase I was so drained. Ang sakit lang, kasi she was very proud of what she did, she posted it on her facebook semi bragging about it, and the way she responded to the comments and replies felt like it was one of her greatest achievements in life.
Nakikitulog kami sa parents niya that time, but I decided to leave her that night, I just waited for her to fall asleep and I got out of bed and drove 4 hours back into my hometown. I left a message for her and decided to block her right after.
I felt so lost, and what's worse is that, all of her friends, in which na kasama namin sa event messaged me days after that I am being silly and being unreasonable, and even her family is justifying her actions saying na it's not a valid reason for a break-up.
Side note, I am paying for all their bills sa family nila, (internet, water, house, groceries and even medication maintenance) , siguro that's part of the reason why they are telling me to stick with her through the end and pagusapan muna ang lahat, it may seem unrelated to the topic on hand pero di lang kasi mawala sa isip ko na out of all the things I am doing for them, I don't event get a single ounce of respect.
Sorry guys, ako ba talaga ang mali?
Ako ba yung gago for ending things with her right away? Unreasonable ba talaga na nagselos ako sa artista?

I'm using a RaspberryPi 4 with debian/raspbian to build a system that needs to run a python script based on the result from Microsoft's Copilot AI, but cant figure out how to make the script run when given a Yes response from the AI. After a lot of research, I haven't been able to find any documentation on a way to do this, but i have some ideas. A chrome extension or app that is able to detect the test "Yes" when the AI gives that as a response and then be able to somehow run the script from that would be perfect. If anyone knows an app like this or has any ideas, i'd appreciate the advice :)

This is a script I wanted to do for Autism Awareness Month originally posted on my old account. I tried my best and I am completely open to any tips or suggestions if you want me to write a script specifically for you, you can message me right now I am doing commissions completely for free. I do ask that I am credited and that you let me know if you use my script so I can check it out. If you need to make any minor changes that is completely fine but please do not change anything that will mess with the main idea.
Tags: A4A, Comfort, Loving, Autism, Autistic listener, Overstimulated, Party , Crying [A4A] [Comfort] [Loving] [Autism] [Autistic listener] [Overstimulated] [Party] [Crying]
(upbeat music, people talking)
Hahaha yeah, what’s up babe? Do you want me to go with you? Okay love text me if you need anything. Yeah I’ll just be out here.
I’ll be right back. I'm going to go find them. (footsteps) Maybe they’re outside. (sliding door opens and closes) No, maybe they’re in the bathroom. (footsteps)
(knocking on door) Love are you in there? (door opens) Babe are you okay? Hey, hey it’s okay. What’s going on hun? No you don’t need to talk about it right now if you don’t want to.
Yeah of course you can have a hug, come here. Do you want to step outside for a little while? Of course I’ll go with you. Do you want your earplugs to block out some of the noise? Yeah they’re right here on my keychain (keychain jingles) there you (the background noise quiets down)
Take my hand and we can go outside. (Door opens, background noise gets slightly louder, footsteps, door opens and closes, noise gets much quieter) Is that better love? I’m glad, are you ready to talk about what caused you to go hide in the bathroom?
That’s perfectly fine honey you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. We can just sit out here for a little while and enjoy the quiet. Yeah the stars are really pretty tonight, you can see a few constellations. Yeah the Little Dipper is right there and there's Orion's Belt.
They’re just as amazing as you. Of course I mean that they’re unique just like you. They look amazing just like you, and every star that’s a part of them is amazing just like every part of you is amazing.
You’re ready to talk, okay I’m listening… I can understand that, there were a lot of people in there talking and the music was really loud. Yeah there were a lot of new people. I don’t completely understand it but from what you’ve explained I see why you got overwhelmed. Oh sorry overstimulated.
What do you mean “why am I with you”, I’m with you because I love you. Yes even with your autism. Honey, why are you asking me this? Hey shhh it’s okay I’m right here just let it out. Don’t apologize for crying love, it's normal.
Yeah we can go home if you want. You wait out here and I’ll go back in and grab our stuff. (the speaker kisses the listener) I’ll be back. (Footsteps, door opens closes, the background noise gets louder) Hey yeah we’re going to head off, yeah everything is fine we just don’t want to be out too late. Yeah I’ll call you tomorrow.
(Door opens and closes background noise fades out) You ready to go love yea here’s your jacket. Let’s go (gate creaks open and closes) You okay honey you look kinda down? Why do you feel bad? (car door opens and closes, car engine starts) No I’m not upset that you wanted to leave the party. Why would I be mad? You were uncomfortable in there and needed to leave and you were able to express that to me. If anything I’m happy that you were able to tell me that you needed to leave. I know that isn’t easy for you and I’m really proud of you for telling me that.
Honey I love you and you don’t ever need to question that. I love you and only you with or without your autism. (Car engine stops, car door opens and closes) Come here honey (speaker kisses the listener) I love you and I always will, let’s get inside.
(Door opens and closes) Now what do you want to do? Pajamas,couch,movie and cuddles. You got it now go get your pjs on, I’ll get a few blankets and get a movie going, yes I know your comfort movie. Now go get into your pjs.
Hey hun you look comfy, come sit down. I’ve got your comfort movie all cued up, your favorite blanket, a few of your fidget toys, a book and your favorite safe foods. You don’t have to thank me. I'd do anything to make you feel better. Come cuddle up. Do you want to read your book, watch the movie, or just stim with your fidget toys and cuddle? Yeah we can just cuddle while you stim. I love watching you just go into your own world and zone out. It's adorable. Yes it is, have I ever lied to you? That was one time and it was for a surprise so it doesn't count. (Soft laughter) I love you too. Can I give you a kiss? (Speaker kisses listener)
You look so cute when you blush. There it is again. Can I ask you something? Do you ever feel like you have to mask around me? Okay can I ask why?
Your ex always made you feel bad for the way you act, oh honey. I would never make you feel bad for you being you. I love how you act. I love how you can go on hour long rants on your special interests and when you ask me to stim with you or just sit with you while you stim.
I don’t ever want to make you feel like you have to mask or be embarrassed because of your autism. I love you, autism and all. Because you’re unique and gorgeous. I love your personality, your laugh, your smile, the way your face lights up when you get to learn more about your special interests.
You are an amazing person and I love you. I want you to be proud of who you are as a person. (speaker kisses the listener) Look at me honey I want you to be happy and I want you to love yourself.

This is just a repost from my other account. If you choose to use this script please let me know I'd love to see how it turns out there is another version of this but M4A which is on my profile if you're interested. Please don't change anything that will change the story, small changes are fine like if you want to add pronouns or anything like that. All SFX is optional what is written is just what I think would fit for the script. Tags: Forest Elf, F4A, Fantasy, Enchanted Forest, Enemies to Lovers [F4A] [Forest Elf] [Fantasy] [Enchanted Forest] [Enemies to Lovers]
Ivory: Look I’m going whether you like it or not I can’t just stand and do nothing after what they did. That isn’t fair they shouldn’t be allowed to just walk freely after all of that. They’ve been doing this for too long and I can’t sit back and do nothing anymore. I’ll be back in a few days. If anything happens I need you to protect the village. Stay safe brother, I'll be back as soon as I can take care of our mother and the rest of the village. I love you too. (footsteps run off and fade out)
(Crickets chirping, leaves crunching, footsteps, owls hooting in the distance)
Ivory: It’s getting dark. I should probably set up camp for the night. Right here should do now let me see if I can actually get this fire rune right for once (Magic sound effects start for a few seconds then stop) Damn it. (Magic sound effects start for a second then stop again) (Ivory sighs heavily) I guess I'm using the humans (Said with disgust) way. (Said as if annoyed) Once I get back to the village I need to work on my rune magic more. (Fire starts) At least I have a fire. I might as well sharpen my arrows (branch snaps, footsteps move away quickly, a few seconds pass) Hi there. ( Thud as if someone fell, everything goes quiet)
(Sounds slowly starts to come back and get louder)
Ivory: Finally your awake human. Now tell me who you are and what you are doing on this side of the kingdom. You should tell me because your life depends on it. If I wanted to, I could shoot you right here right now. And what makes you think I wouldn’t? I don’t have to question you. I am choosing to question you. Now if you would just answer my questions this would be a lot easier. Who are you? A soldier from this king's army, yeah right. I say that because I know what the king’s soldiers look like and you are not one of them. I know because one you don’t have a single scar on you and before you say you just joined his army I know you didn’t you’re too soft and small the king would never recruit you. If anything you look like one of his children. Am I correct? Yeah that's what I thought. Now what are you doing out here? What do you mean getting revenge?
Ivory: Ha you think we killed your mother, the queen? I’m sorry but we never killed your mother. Your people were the ones to kill our queen and your mother is still alive. You don’t know? She saw the wrong your kingdom was doing and came to help us. No, I don't know where she is now. If I had to guess I’d say she’s somewhere in the sun elf village. No one knows exactly where she is, only the Dragon Queen does; she also relocates a lot; you never know where she’ll be next unless she tells you.
Ivory: Why would I cut you loose if you tried to attack me? I don’t trust you. I don't trust any humans after what they did to my village and all the other villages. I can't, I just can’t. Of course you think what they did was for the good of everyone. Tell me what you think of your kingdom's army attacking my village for no reason at all for just living peacefully. We never did anything. You guys killed my father for defending me and my siblings. Even after that they came back and ransacked our village. They drained all the magic from our village, ruined our farms and we couldn’t do anything or else we’d be killed. Tell me do you think doing that was for the good of everyone. Yeah that's what I thought. Your father did that out of fear, fear of some of the most happy and peaceful people all because one elf made a mistake five hundred years ago. It’s not our fault that he killed the prince over five hundred years ago. We shouldn’t have to pay the price of his mistake. My father shouldn’t have to pay the price of his mistake. You can say you're sorry all you want, it won't bring him back, nothing can bring him back.

This is just a repost from my other account. If you choose to use this script please let me know I'd love to see how it turns out there is another version of this but F4A which is on my profile if you're interested. Please don't change anything that will change the story, small changes are fine like if you want to add pronouns or anything like that. All SFX is optional what is written is just what I think would fit for the script.
Tags: Forest Elf, M4A, Fantasy, Enchanted Forest, Enemies to Lovers [M4A] [Forest Elf] [Fantasy] [Enchanted Forest] [Enemies to Lovers]
Calix: Look I’m going whether you like it or not I can’t just stand and do nothing after what they did. That isn’t fair they shouldn’t be allowed to just walk freely after all of that. They’ve been doing this for too long and I can’t sit back and do nothing anymore. I’ll be back in a few days. If anything happens I need you to protect the village. Stay safe brother, I'll be back as soon as I can take care of our mother and the rest of the village. I love you too. (footsteps run off and fade out)
(Crickets chirping, leaves crunching, footsteps, owls hooting in the distance)
Calix: It’s getting dark. I should probably set up camp for the night. Right here should do now let me see if I can actually get this fire rune right for once (Magic sound effects start for a few seconds then stop) Damn it. (Magic sound effects start for a second then stop again) ( Calix sighs heavily) I guess I'm using the humans (Said with disgust) way. (Said as if annoyed) Once I get back to the village I need to work on my rune magic more. (Fire starts) At least I have a fire. I might as well sharpen my arrows (branch snaps, footsteps move away quickly, a few seconds pass) Hi there. ( Thud as if someone fell, everything goes quiet)
(Sounds slowly starts to come back and get louder)
Calix: Finally your awake human. Now tell me who you are and what you are doing on this side of the kingdom. You should tell me because your life depends on it. If I wanted to, I could shoot you right here right now. And what makes you think I wouldn’t? I don’t have to question you. I am choosing to question you. Now if you would just answer my questions this would be a lot easier. Who are you? A soldier from this king's army, yeah right. I say that because I know what the king’s soldiers look like and you are not one of them. I know because one you don’t have a single scar on you and before you say you just joined his army I know you didn’t you’re too soft and small the king would never recruit you. If anything you look like one of his children. Am I correct? Yeah that's what I thought. Now what are you doing out here? What do you mean getting revenge?
Calix: Ha you think we killed your mother, the queen? I’m sorry but we never killed your mother. Your people were the ones to kill our queen and your mother is still alive. You don’t know? She saw the wrong your kingdom was doing and came to help us. No, I don't know where she is now. If I had to guess I’d say she’s somewhere in the sun elf village. No one knows exactly where she is, only the Dragon Queen does; she also relocates a lot; you never know where she’ll be next unless she tells you.
Calix: Why would I cut you loose if you tried to attack me? I don’t trust you. I don't trust any humans after what they did to my village and all the other villages. I can't, I just can’t. Of course you think what they did was for the good of everyone. Tell me what you think of your kingdom's army attacking my village for no reason at all for just living peacefully. We never did anything. You guys killed my father for defending me and my siblings. Even after that they came back and ransacked our village. They drained all the magic from our village, ruined our farms and we couldn’t do anything or else we’d be killed. Tell me do you think doing that was for the good of everyone. Yeah that's what I thought. Your father did that out of fear, fear of some of the most happy and peaceful people all because one elf made a mistake five hundred years ago. It’s not our fault that he killed the prince over five hundred years ago. We shouldn’t have to pay the price of his mistake. My father shouldn’t have to pay the price of his mistake. You can say you're sorry all you want, it won't bring him back, nothing can bring him back.