Upvote to make everyone aware!!!
Apes, we need to be prepared for Nasdaq's potential manipulation of FFIE's price after any trading halts. Their procedures give them power to temporarily depress the reopening price.
When a stock like FFIE is halted, Nasdaq controls the reopening process. They choose the order execution method (price/time or pro-rata priority) and can extend quoting periods if there are order imbalances.
With a significant sell-side imbalance, Nasdaq's choices like using pro-rata priority could allow larger sell orders to be filled ahead of buys, pushing down FFIE's price when trading resumes.
While the long-term squeeze thesis remains intact, we must have diamond hands and not panic sell if Nasdaq employs these underhanded tactics to create artificial dips.
Their authority over reopenings means short-term price suppression is possible after halts.
FFIE is soaring and the movement is growing!
Don't be shaken by any temporary Nasdaq fuckery. The only way to defeat their games is to buy and HODL with unshakeable resolve.
We can stay regarded longer than they can stay solvent.
The squeeze is inevitable if we unite and hold the line against their desperate price manipulation attempts! 🚀🌕
TL;DR: Nasdaq can manipulate FFIE's reopening price after halts using execution priority rules. Stay diamond-handed through any short-term dips - our HODL will defeat their fuckery! 💎🙌ShareRewrite

So, because it's No-Pics Thursday (May 16th, 2024) today, you know what that means...

It's time for the Weekly Fanfic Recommendation LINK-SWAP Game thread to continue!

Anyways, THE RULES (read 'em carefully):

• Post a link to a fanfiction you like (can be your own as well - it's okay to self-promote), with or without a short blurb.
  
• Important: Reply to someone else's post with a link to a fanfiction you think they might like, based on their choices.
  
• Put each of your choices in a separate post if you want to make sure to get a recommendation based on each one. You may reply to someone else's reply, either to you or to someone else. Please make long discussion threads, they introduce a healthy bit of exploration and can help us find new interests! And that's it!
  

PLEASE COMPLETE BOTH STEPS 1 and 2. Don't just show up and ask for recommendations if you're not willing to provide any. I'll start the first few threads myself, and reply with a gentle reminder if you forget.

IMPORTANT NOTE. Thanks to BookHorseBot (many thanks to their creator, BitzLeon), you can now use the aforementioned bot to easily post the name, description, views, rating, tags, and a bunch of other information about a fic hosted on Fimfiction.net. All you need to do is include "{NAME OF STORY}" in your comment (without quotes), and the bot will look up the story and respond to your comment with the info. It makes sharing stories really convenient. You can even lookup multiple stories at once.

Ready? Set? LET"S GO! Also, feel free to self-promote in here!

Last week's thread on May 9th, 2024.

An update to the patch plan released just a few days ago is now available!
Lots of great changes already, patch notes are here - for those without access to Steam to read:

Here's our first patch in Early Access!! We're very grateful for all the feedback so far, which inspired this first set of targeted improvements and fixes. Next, we'll be working on a patch with balance changes and additional improvements based on what we've observed. Thank you for playing!
Note: 📢 indicates a change inspired by community feedback! (Almost everything in this case...!)
General Gameplay

• 📢 Your Sprint is innately faster and turning is more responsive; re-scaled abilities that boost this
  
• 📢 You now can Dash out of many attack recovery animations more reliably
  
• 📢 You now can gather from any resource point once you have unlocked the corresponding Gathering Tool; you now can Prioritize any available Tool in the Training Grounds to make its resources appear as often as before, while resources for Tools you do not Prioritize will appear far less often
  

Altar of Ashes

• 📢 The Swift Runner: now also makes your Dash immediate (note the faster speed means you are invulnerable for very slightly less time); re-scaled Sprint speed bonus since Sprint is innately faster now

Level Design & Environments

• 📢 It is easier to Dash across chasms in [spoiler]
  
• 📢 [Spoiler] resources are more common in the [spoiler]
  

Menus & UI

• 📢 Using a Well of Charon displays your current Gold without the need to check your Boon Info
  
• 📢 The Grasp Upgrade Tutorial in the Altar of Ashes will repeat if ignored
  
• 📢 Added Patch Notes option to the Main Menu (where you can read this!)
  

Miscellaneous

• 📢 Early encounters with are less likely to occur; she also drops something of value...
  
• 📢 Related, if this already occurred, look for a one-time bonus in the Crossroads while is present
  
• 📢 Entries in the Book of Shadows are generally easier to reveal
  
• 📢 You can gift without having to wait around as long after conversing
  
• 📢 Adjusted upgrades invalidated by the Gathering Tool changes above
  
• 📢 In the Flashback, a hint will eventually play for players who don't realize they are in control
  
• 📢 Improved mouse selection in various cases
  
• 📢 Improved support for some additional controllers
  
• Abilities that boost Sprint speed display more-accurate numbers (generally lower than before)
  
• Updates and fixes to translations in some languages
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed several issues with Dark Side (Selene)
  
• 📢 Fixed Sun Worshiper (Apollo) sometimes preventing new foes from spawning
  
• 📢 Fixed Fire Extinguisher (Hestia) not dealing damage as expected
  
• 📢 Fixed Sister Blades Omega Attack not hitting reliably from certain angles
  
• 📢 Fixed retaining the ability to block while afflicted with Twilight Curse (Selene)
  
• 📢 Fixed various cases of foes sometimes spawning out of bounds
  
• 📢 Fixed camera zoom-in getting stuck vs. in certain situations
  
• 📢 Fixed cases where you could Dash out of bounds in the Crossroads
  
• 📢 Fixed Fishing Pier events in the Crossroads not passing Whiles like other similar events
  
• 📢 Fixed autolock not clearing as expected while using mouse controls
  
• 📢 Fixed keyboard inputs sometimes getting stuck unexpectedly
  
• 📢 Fixed several input issues switching from gamepad to mouse-and-keyboard controls
  
• 📢 Fixed several issues playing in ultrawide resolutions
  
• 📢 Fixed some visual effects vs. lingering between phases or after the fight
  
• 📢 Fixed a Melinoë voice line repeating unexpectedly around the
  
• 📢 Fixed various rare crashes
  
• 📢 Fixed several text errors
  
• 📢 Other minor fixes
  

Quote of the Patch '...now plain to the eye, now shadowy, now shining in the darkness— all this in unnerving attacks in the gloom of night.' ~The Orphic Hymns, 71: To Melinoë (Anonymous; A. Athanassakis translation)[/]

It's the swaps. It's the leaps. It's has to be an options rug pull. Will UBS implode due to Archegos and Credit Suisse? DFV's tweets mean this. No they mean that. Is the stock price indicating a hedge fund just folded? Will market makers hold the bag when the shorts collapse? Why is volume so high on this day? Why was it so low on that day? The SEC isn't doing anything, or maybe they are? Will the FED will step in when we moon? Citadel must be in trouble, why else would they move to Florida? GameStop is transforming its business but keeping it quiet.
There are endless questions and hypotheses and yet none of us can really say what's happening because this is such a layered mess from bottom to top. I'll be damned if it isn't exciting to be part of something where the future is unclear. It's like riding a roller coaster where you don't know if the track is 100% working around the next corner, yet you are going full speed ahead no matter what.
There's a quote from the movie Fever Pitch which has stuck with me over the years for one reason or another - "I like being part of something that's bigger than me, than I. It's good for your soul to invest in something you can't control."
That's how I feel about this whole thing. This is so much bigger than all of us and yet here we are, neck deep in the craziness wondering what the next day will bring. We continue on through the twisted, broken maze of the stock market all the while holding strong that we will find our way out of the fog and get what we deserve in the end. I've been here for it all since 2021 and I'm staying on this ride for as long as it takes.

For anyone who feels lost trying to apply for accommodations on the MCAT, you are not alone! I will try to keep this short with as much information as possible. Please feel free to DM me with any personal questions!
Accommodation History

• Junior year of HS, my ACT tutors recommended I get a neuropsychological evaluation for support for extra time on the ACT due to clear signs of ADHD and testing struggles.
• Received full 2 day neuropsych eval outlining my ADHD and testing struggles.
• Received time & a half on all standardized tests (SAT, ACT)
• Received time & a half on all college assessments.

First MCAT Attempt - Normal Timing
I took the MCAT with no accommodations on 6/17/23. I scored below 500 (which was not consistent with my practice exams, but I remember being extremely nervous on test day, really running out of time, and only being able to guess on the math questions because I had no time to attempt them).
Reasons For Not Originally Attempting To Apply For Accommodations:
AAMC requires a neuropsych eval that has not expired within 4 years. My eval had just expired. It is pretty expensive and time consuming to get this done.
Didn't want to spend the time and money on a new neuropsych eval.
AAMC accommodation process seemed tedious and intimidating. I almost felt like I would be using my time better by studying for the MCAT instead of working on the application.
The stigma surrounding ADHD/receiving extra time on tests - I think I wanted to try to "overcome" my disability because of the fear of being judged..Especially when thinking about how doctors don't receive extra time in the real world. However, I can confidently say that there is no reason to feel judged for finding what works best for you as an individual and as a test taker, especially in order to "level the playing field". And we all know the MCAT is not comparable to real life emergency situations.
Important Resources/Documents I Submitted When Applying for Accommodations:

• Received a new neuropsychological evaluation.
  • As I said before, this can be extremely costly. Unfortunately, I do think this is absolutely necessary.
    • AAMC posted this Lower-Cost Evaluation Option for those who cannot afford pricey testing: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/university-clinics
• Submitted previous neuropsych eval from 2017.
• I attended the same school from Kindergarten - 12th grade. I reached out to them and asked if they kept my report cards and notes from teachers throughout my academic career. I chose quotes from teachers that highlighted my ADHD-like tendencies throughout my time at the school.
• Reached out to the ACT to have them send my approval of taking the ACT with extra time.
• Submitted my ACT score when I tested with normal time & after testing with extra time (to show improvement)
  • a screenshot of your score is fine, just make sure your name is shown somewhere in the screenshot.
• Letters from High School + College explaining proof of receiving accommodations.

What I applied for (Applied on 10/24/23):

• Standard Time & 50% (This means testing over 2 days)
• Stop-The-Clock Breaks
• Extended Section Breaks (Only get one 10 min break per day when testing over 2 days)

First Decision Received by AAMC: (11/28/23)

• Approval for Standard Time + 25% (testing over 2 days)
• Stop-The-Clock breaks (30 min per testing day)
• Extra 5 minutes of break time for a total of 15 minutes, as opposed to 10 mins.

Wrote a Reconsideration Letter on behalf of myself & had my evaluator write a reconsideration letter.
Submitted this reconsideration letter on 12/22/23
Received Final Decision & Approval of What I Initially requested on 01/20/24.
This was a really long post and an extremely long journey. While I am extremely grateful that I have all these resources to share with you, I acknowledge that every situation is different. Please don't give up if you truly feel you deserve certain accommodations. The MCAT does not define you!
Good Luck & feel free to message me with any questions!!

Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the Nature of Predators universe. Rain World is a video game developed by and property of Videocult. I claim no ownership over either.
Sorry for the wait. Life happened but I just finished my semester, so I’m hoping the next chapter will be finished sooner rather than later. Please let me know if I missed any typos or made any editing mistakes. It’s greatly appreciated.
–
Memory Transcript: Sefril, Farsul First Contact Officer
Date [Standardized Human Time]: July 15, 2136
When I came to, I just laid still. I wasn’t sure what had happened though what was certain was that I was both still alive and still in this dingy box of a room. The predators were you of sight in one of my few blindspots. Jinsul and Dornucl were still alive, with Dornucl understandably agitated and Jinsul seemingly lost in thought.
Stranger yet, no one seemed to be hurt. Maybe Jinsul had gotten them?
Careful, I sat up, only to be greeted by the predators grooming each other. They stared back at me as I froze once again.
“Finally,” Jinsul said, causing me to jump, “I need to ask you something.”
“Oh not this again,” Dornucl said, annoyed. “Ignore him, he’s gone mad.”
“What?” was my only response. The predators seemed to perk up, shifting their reclining posture slightly, ears standing on end.
“You’re supposed to be a scientist, and as such you understand the meaning of overwhelming evidence, yes?” Jinsul said.
“What you’re suggesting is not only the most unscientific conclusion I’ve heard but is also something I’d expect to come out of someone with terminal predator disease,” Dornucl interjected.
I glanced back terrified at the predators, who had not yet chosen to strike and instead decided to lay there. Menacingly.
I pressed myself against the back wall, hoping to fall straight through and away from them.
“Why haven’t you done anything about…them?” I said waving my tail toward the predators. “You’re an exterminator, so…exterminate.”
“With what?” Jinsul shot back and began waving his pistol with one paw while shaking the flamer laying beside with the other, “The handgun that won’t fire with damp ammunition or the flamer that will kill us all in this tight space? Besides, they won’t attack us.”
Dornucl groaned and rubbed his tentacles into his face, while my mouth was agape in shock.
“What do you mean ‘they won’t attack’?! Their bleating predators!”
“Gods, that’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Jinsul practically screamed in frustration. He took a breath, “OK, sorry, just listen alright? Have you been having weird dreams?”
I stiffened, “I had a dream last night where I almost drowned, but I don’t see what that has to–”
“So, you're telling me you didn’t almost drown?” he said with a knowing look.
I considered it with dawning horror, “But that’s–”
“Impossible,” Dornucl spat out, “And ludicrous.” He turned to me, “As I said, he’s snapped.”
“Then how else do you explain it? My brothers and sisters in arms have confided in me the same: dreams, visions, and inescapable feelings of familiarity in the unfamiliar. Those who heed them escape danger, while those who don’t, don’t.”
As Jinsul spoke, a true zealotry was imbued in his voice.
“I’ll give you this, by all means, these visions should be impossible and unexplainable by science.” Fervor glinted in his eyes. “But when science fails, we must turn to faith to guide us.”
A knot formed in my stomach as I got a sneaking suspicion of where he was going.
“It is my belief and that of my lieutenants and clergy that the gods have sent us these visions.” He announced this without a shadow of a doubt in his voice. “They’ve been guiding us from the moment we’ve entered the orbit. The delusions the crew had in orbit? Also the visions.”
It doesn’t make any sense, but he’s right on one thing. These premonitions are impossible, yet they happen and help us avoid danger. However, there has to be a more rational explanation. There just has to be.
“But why?” I ask. “To what end? If your gods are doing this, to what end? If they are behind everything, the visions and maybe the crash, then why what would justify so much suffering? It just doesn't make any sense.”
“That’s the nature of the divine,” he said somberly, “We can speculate why they would send the visions and make us…feel them and their pain all we want, but we are imperfect creatures, and they are things of perfection. We simply need to trust they are leading us to where we need to go.”
As I considered his words, Dornucl once again spoke up condescendingly.
“I can’t believe you even have to CONTEMPLATE what he’s saying!” He slumped down and motioned towards the predators. “Fine then, what do they have to do with your ‘gods’ plan’? Your duty as an exterminator is baked into your religion? What do you have to say to that?”
Jinsul involuntarily flicked his ears, betraying a rising irritation. “I don’t know, I don’t like it, and I don’t have to. They haven’t given us visions of them attacking us and they’ve decided to disable our best weapons. I don’t need to understand why, all I need to know is that there is a reason they would do so. Besides, they haven’t even tried to attack us. You're a biologist, do you consider that normal?”
“Do you even hear yourself? You sound like a lunatic! I could have you put away for this!”
Unlike his normally cool, level-headed, and almost jolly demeanor, Dornucl’s features were twisted in barely veiled rage. It was terrifying to see him on the verge of doing something awful. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the predators.
The one with the grey fur was still lying down, but the other with the dark green fur had stood up and began stomping around in exaggerated and dramatic steps. All while growling and barking.
It was terrifying. However, it was dulled by the sheer surrealness of the situation. Its entire demeanor was less intentionally threatening and more childish mocking, right down to flailing its limbs in much the same way Dornucl did unconsciously to emphasize his point. It may even be funny if we could understand what they were saying.
Wait a minute…
I paused to think about that absent-minded thought, the gears and pistons finally shaking off the shock and beginning to fire and spin. I listened closely to its vocalizations and began to pick out a form of structure in how they were articulated and gestated. I recalled the predators' behavior and came to a grim conclusion.
“We have a problem,” I said so quietly it could barely be considered a whisper.
“Oh, what tipped you off genius?” Dornucl responded sarcastically.
I stumbled a little at the insult but continued.
“No, I mean a bigger problem,” I took a deep breath, “I think they’re sapient.”
The silence was deafening. Even the predator had stopped its mockery and began exchanging words with the other grey-furred one.
Dornucl glanced at the and sighed. “In hindsight, that does explain their behavior.”
Somehow, despite this revelation, Dornucl regained his composure and his cool demeanor.
“Well, in a certain sense, this simplifies things somewhat. We just have to wait for the translators to complete processing their language, then we can hopefully negotiate with them.”
I gawked at what he just said, while Jinsul broke down into laughter.
“And I’m the crazy one!” Jinsul managed to get out between the cackles, “Do you even hear yourself? Mindless animals are one thing, but this? We have the next the Arxur right before us!”
It was at this point that Plako decided to wake up. One can only imagine what was going through his head when he was greeted by 2 predators, a hysterical exterminator, a biologist trying not to show his frustration, and an anthropologist doing her best to fall through the wall.
He began to stammer. “Wh-what h-happened? Why haven’t they eaten us?”
Dornucl leaned over to him and deadpanned. “The predators are sapient.”
Plako froze after he processed this information.
Jinsul calmed down enough to speak more coherently, “Gods, it all makes sense. They must’ve bombed themselves back in the stone age, and have only recently been reclaiming their former technology.”
I spoke up. “I don’t think that’s the case. Remember, the worm showed us an image of that other creature. These predators likely evolved sometime after the civilization's collapse.”
“Well,” Jinsul said while deep in thought, “Now I can say for certain the gods must be involved.”
“Wh-what?” Plako asked trambling.
“Think about it. This whole situation is so astronomically unlikely, from being in an uncharted system in the middle of nowhere at the same time as a single Arxur ship to surviving the crash, and then meeting these predators, and them not attacking us. The gods’ intend for us to purge these creatures before they can spread and save the remnants of this civilization from–”
“No, I’m pretty sure it was laughing at you, not with you.” A masculine said from the back of the chamber.
“Fine, but I think I’m finally getting somewhere.” A feminine voice responded.
Jinsul went quiet as our gazes fell upon the predators. The translators finished translating. No one knew what to do, so we ended up just staring.
They both stared back with their unnerving abyssal eyes.
“I do wish they’d stop staring though. It’s starting to get weird.” The female said with a tone of unease.
“Let’s bring them to the village and have Oracle translate. It’s probably just a misunderstanding,” the male responded.
“Right, there's nothing we can do about it now.” She plopped beside the male and both began to get ready to sleep the best one could on the hard floor.
I felt something poke into my side, causing me to jump. Dornucl had crawled over to me and began to speak in a whisper. “What do you want me to do?” I asked.
His frustrated look returned. “You're the first contact specialist, go first contact.”
“And their predators!” I said, raising my voice a little louder, “They’ll eat me!”
He groaned and put on a forced calm. “While I disagree with Jinsul’s reasoning, they haven’t eaten us yet and we all want it to stay that way. Now if they decide they do want to eat us, we don’t have any weapons that wouldn’t be suicidal to use. If we want to get out of this alive and well, we’ll have to at least communicate with them.”
Jinsul, who had been effortlessly eavesdropping on us, muttered something under his breath. Dornucl ignored him as he continued, “So please at least try. Even if you fail, we’re likely doomed anyway.”
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I just wish it wasn’t me who had to do it or that I was the only one remotely qualified to do so. Haf was still unconscious, Plako looked on the brink of tears, Dornucl was just a scientist, and Jinsul wasn’t in the mood.
I gathered my strength and began running through what I could say. After a minute of idle thought, I came up with the only thing I could say. I stood up on quivering legs, took a brave step forward, and called upon the translator’s imparted knowledge.
“J-just so yo-you know, we’re not very tasty…and we’ll give you in-indigestion, so you shouldn’t eat us.” I felt like I was about to throw up.
The predators just stared at me, jaws agape and revealing menacing fangs. Jinsul nearly collapsed in renewed laughter. Dornucl buried his eyes into his tentacles and muttered something to himself.
“What was I supposed to say?” I said to Dornucl.
“ANYTHING BUT THAT!” he shot back.
Before I could snap back in frustration, the grey predator spoke.
“You speak our tongue the entire time? Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
We paused, and even Jinsul stopped laughing like a madman. Wordlessly, Dornucl shoved me forward.
“N-no…” I stammered, “We have an implant in our heads that translates languages in real-time while allowing us to speak stored languages. It only just figured out your language just now.”
“So it’s a Mark of Communication?” It asked.
“I don’t–”
“No no,” the green one interrupted, “If they had one, then we wouldn’t be able to understand them.”
The grey one nodded sagely.
I had been expecting an equally long-winded and terrifying conversation about the plausibility of a universal translator and whether or not it was magic, not such a matter-of-fact statement. Before I could shake off the confusion, Dornucl suddenly spoke up, “What’s a mark of communication?"
“Definitely from beyond the wall,” the green one said to the grey.
The grey one nodded and turned back to us.
“A mark is a special gift, given only to one who reaches the top of Pebbles and meets with him, wherein he provides the mark and the knowledge necessary to complete the Pilgrimage. Did you receive your ‘translator’ from another like him?” They both seemed oddly interested in the answer.
“We made them,” I said, then quickly added, “The Federation did. We didn’t build them personally. Just to reiterate, you're not going to eat us, right?”
“Of course not.” The green one said, its voice rife with disgust. “Why do you–”
Jinsul swiftly cut it off.
“Do you think you win us over with such obvious deceptions?” Jinsul stood and sized up the predators, “I know this game. You’re just keeping us around till you get hungry. When I get off this rock, I’ll ensure the god’s wishes are seen through and this entire planet is burned from orbit!”
The predators seemed confused about what was said. The green one stepped too close to me, with nowhere to go, I froze and closed my eyes.
This is it Sefril. You knew this was coming. Don’t resist and maybe it will be–
“Is he okay?” it asked, feigning concern and pointing to a still-ranting Jinsul, “In, y’know…” it said as it tapped its claw against its head.
Jinsul paused momentarily as he took in what was just said, then began fuming again. “I DON’T HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE!” he shrieked.
It took a step back at the outburst. It put its arms out, but instead of lunging toward him, it seemed as though it was trying to shield itself from him, or at the very least keep him at a comfortable distance.
“I didn’t mean to offend,” It said, the translator framing it apologetically to my confusion, “I have a cousin who fell off a pole as a pup and landed on his head. You sorta act like him.”
Jinsul reached a new, as of yet unknown level of hate. He stood there for a second, simmering not unlike a faulty water boiler. Dornucl stepped behind him, raised some robust science thingy above his head, and brought it down on Jinsul’s.
Jinsul flopped to bring like a rag doll beside Haf. Everyone, including the predators, was speechless. Everyone except Dornucl.
“Everyone shut up!”, he said in a practical growl, “This is confusing for all of us, and antagonizing each other isn’t going to make this situation any better. Here’s how this will go: We’ll have a polite conversation, get to know each other, and then figure out what to do.”
He turns to the predators. “My name is Dornucl, and this is Sefril, Plako, Jinsul, and Haf. What’s your’s?”
“My name is Stone,” The grey-furred one responded, “And this is Light.” He said pointing to the green one.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Light said, not skipping a beat, “Where are you from?”
Oh boy, getting right into it.
“So…” I began, but Plako jabbed me.
“You can’t,” he whispered in a panic, “There are predators, if they find out about the federation it’ll be the Arxur all over again.”
I look nervously at Dornucl, who nods reassuringly. I take a deep breath. “I know, but they’ll find out sooner or later. Besides, they may be predators, but they are also primitives. We have a natural advantage, if not physically than technologically and intellectually.”
I returned my attention to ‘Light’ and ‘Stone’, who did their best not to look like they were eavesdropping. “As I was saying…this is a little complicated. You know the stars, right?”
They nodd.
“We are from the stars.”
They blinked at us. They glanced around at us, trying to read our expressions.
“What do you mean?” Stone asked hesitantly.
I took a deep breath and launched into an explanation. “You know how we are currently in this world? There are others like, very, very far away. So far away that if you spent your entire life running as fast as you could you’d never even glimpse it.”
“Then how did you come here?” Light asked, “Did you use magic like the Ancients did?”
I took a mental note to inquire more about these Ancients, then resumed. “No, we, and the Federation as a whole, use large machines called ‘spaceships’. Each is equipped with a device called a subspace drive, which allows for faster-than-light travel. With this, we can travel between stars in days, weeks, or months depending on the distance between the stars.”
“Hey, I’m pretty fast, but I don’t think that going faster than me would make much of a difference if it’s that far away.”
Stone let out a good-natured snicker. “I think she meant light from a lantern or the sun.”
“Ah,” she remarked, ears pressed back in mild embarrassment. She tilted her head in confusion, “But that sounds like magic to me.”
“It’s not, ok? It’s just science.” I say with a sigh. Surprisingly, the word science seemed to translate without much of a fuss and they even nodded along. Something else to look into.
Stone asked the dreaded question: “Then how does it work?”
“I don’t know but I’m sure Plako could give you a basic…” I began to say when Plako started to make wild motions, trying to communicate he had no idea how it worked without drawing attention. He succeeded in trying to tell me that while failing to stay incognito. The predators turn their piercing eyes on him.
“Don’t worry about him,” I say hastily before they can speak, “It’s not his specialty.”
“What’s his specialty?” Stone asked. Plako visibly cringed, but this time Dornucl saved him.
“Let’s save the more technical discussions for tomorrow. It’s late, and we’re all tired.”
Light gave Stone a look before turning back to us. “Agreed. We both had a rough cycle. We even died a few times.”
They settled down while we were left to ponder the absolute bombshell they had dropped on us. Plako seemed checked, while Dornucl and I just shared a look. I recalled what Jinsul had come up with and felt a pit form in my stomach.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked dumbfounded.
Stone looked up from where she was cuddling up next to Light. “What do you mean? Was it something I said?”
“Yes, it was something you said,” I said while trying not to hyperventilate, “You said you died. What do you mean by that?”
Both predators looked confused. “You know, the Cycle. Wake up, Die, wake up. Don’t you have the Cycle where you’re from?”
“...no…” I say in an empty voice. “By any chance, you wouldn’t happen to remember these deaths as dreams?”
The predators gave me a look of confusion, before Light nodded. I stared for an eternity, and this time the predators were the ones to give us uncomfortable looks. They whispered between themselves, occasionally shooting glances back towards us though taking no other action.
Unfortunately, our solace from their gazes didn’t last, as Stone turned back to us. “I can see that there are certainly…things that need to be sorted out between us, but I think Door-Knuckle had the right idea.”
I nodded, barely registering what he was saying. The others muttered in half-hearted agreement. Satisfied, the predators continued to snuggle up beside each other. Within moments, they were fast asleep.
We stayed quiet for a long while. Plako crawled closer to Dornucl and me. “They’re lying, right? I mean, they have to be. It’s what predators do.”
I couldn’t muster myself to answer him. Dornucl seemed flustered.
“Say something…please…” Plako pleaded, raising his voice above the whisper he had it at before. Thankfully the predators didn’t wake. We just sat there, letting it all sink in.
“It’s…let’s…” Dornucl started to say, before settling on “Damn it.”
[First] [Previous] [Next]

I had a small debate with my coworker yesterday about If there is a higher deity out there.
He started talking about the probability of us being born and about the insane odds. That it is and I said “Ok so we are lucky, what about the infinite amount of people who were never born, or had the chance to be born. If you think about it that’s quite sad.”
He then said “scientists have done the numbers and if the earth was like any closer to the sun we would be dead.”
Now I didn’t say anything to that because I couldn’t think of anything, but I then thought about how flawed the world is. We have global warming, natural disasters, the moon is slowly moving away from us, stuff like that.
I then said that I didn’t think Jesus was god. He then said “What do you mean he was the only person born from a virgin.” I then pointed out that he wasn’t the first to supposedly be born a virgin and that it was done by Greek mythology years before.” He then honestly looked confused and then said “Well Greek mythology is just stories.” And I was like “To old Greek people it wasn’t, and why is the story of Jesus not just a story.” He then said something about how there is no proof that George Washington existed, which yes I do.
We did agree that how the universe works is probably something humans can’t comprehend, and that it would probably be like teaching ants calculus.
We briefly discussed believe in the afterlife and he was like “it kind of comes from the belief in god.” Which it isn’t because there are Christians who don’t believe in the afterlife or believe in heaven or hell.
He then said that we would probably just never know which is something I agree with.
He then said that he wasn’t the person to answer these questions, and that I should watch some of Cliffe Knechtle’s videos because they apparently answers everything I was saying.
By the way I don’t consider myself an atheist. I believe that there is no way to know if there is a god or not but I don’t support religion.
I don’t know why I’m posting this to be honest. I just want to hear your thoughts I guess.
Edit: I forgot to mention this but at one point he said that the Bible had a lot of stuff that became true he said and I quote “The bible predicts that homosexuality will be justified in the future.”

My boyfriend and I have been dating and living together for six years! We've been good friends since middle school! (If you're into zodiacs, I'm a march Aries and he's a January Aquarius) I feel like everything was going great until I stopped working to go to cosmetology school. Going into cosmo school I knew this was going to be a slow process to start making my own money so I had a plan on at least working overnights or part-time and then going to school full-time, luckily my boyfriend offered to give me a $500 allowance every two weeks and told me just to focus on school and he'll help me financially.For context we live with my parents and siblings, he really doesn't pay bills here unless my parents asks him to help with electricity but other than that, all he has is his phone bill and car insurance,No chores or anything as well. NGL I have a bad spending habit, l was used to buying everything myself (Hair, nails and makeup I bought that all myself) so $500 went away pretty fast nothing too bad but my account would go in the negatives, maybe like -$10 at the most but I would ask him if he could just send me at least $12 so my account will not be in the negatives(and avoid overdraft fees) , this was turned into a big deal with him. He stop talking to me for about 2 1/2 weeks(this happened about three times.) His way of ignoring me was getting home from work and he would just stay in his car until 1 am(off of work at 10:30pm and was home by 10:45pm) when he would come inside he would sit in the living room in the dark and anytime l'd walk by He would turn his phone off, so I wouldn't see him . I was the one who had to ask him what was wrong and his reason for ignoring me. His reason was because I was stressing him out cause my account went into the negatives, it really pissed me off since we live together at my parents house and just felt childish of him ignoring me.After I had a "talk" with him (really it was just me asking him what's wrong and if he's OK, kind of felt like I was babying him) he got over it the next day, but the third time he ignored me I told Him that "This is very childish of you and why do you not want to talk things out? If you do this one more time l'm done" he hasn't done it since.
Another point is our sex life is gone. Again, I live with my parents and three siblings so it's a little hard to get intimate, especially in a Mexican household, someone is always home, but when we do have alone time he would rather play Fortnite, sleep all day or work on his car. I feel like I'm also to blame since I did let myself go so that could be another reason why we're not intimate. what I also mean by intimate is him not even wanting to hang out with me on his days off. He's heavily into Godzilla, anime,cars and video games, so of course, anytime he wanted to do some thing or go to an event that he's interested in and I'm not, l would still go because I wanted to be with him and have a good time but when it comes to things that I want to do he acts like it's the worst thing ever, also feels forced. So majority of the time l'm going to the movies or going to a restaurant I'm just doing it by myself because he doesn't want to go. I've also been home alone more lately in order for me to save money. I just stopped getting my hair and nails done and I just stopped going out in general. Unfortunately I did pick up a smoking habit Since all I do is watch him play Fortnite or his other interests, I decided I'll at least make it fun and get high while watching. He says that he doesn't mind me smoking, but there are times where he acts like he's better than me because he smoked when he was younger and not now as an adult. He's also been working a lot lately, He works at a warehouse so 10 hour shifts four days straight and he has three days off, but he's been working six days out of the week now and only has Saturdays off, but on his days off, he sleeps all day and then stays up all night playing video games. I try not to get mad at him because I understand he's tired, but if he has plans with his friends he is up early in the morning and is with them all day and I do get a little jealous of it. At this point, I really feel we're both using each other. He gives me an allowance and he lives in a house rent free. I still love him, but I just feel nothing back. He says he still loves me and I quote " well I still give you money and fix your car so that should mean something right?!" I don't need a pity party. I just need other peoples opinions. This is only a very small portion of my relationship that I am posting here, but from what l have written on here (can provide more stories/info if needed) I just need to know your thoughts and what would you do in my situation.

Ignorant American here and I love the Outlaws but don't quite understand this quote. When Gregory's coworker Spencer is telling him about this great Ploughman's lunch the local pub has he says he "asks for both ham AND cheese, bit cheeky innit".
I have a general idea of what cheeky means but why is that lunch selection cheeky? Thanks everyone!!

I’ve had this theory in my mind for a while, and I’d love to expand on it with Scout’s Honor answering my questions. I think I might have an idea as to how the Infected psychology works. Be warned, this is going to be a very long post.
First, I want to look at Ink. He retained almost his entire personality, even after being Infected. I’m going to use him as an example through this entire theory.
We know Burt used the line “The smarter you are in life, the smarter you are in death” and it was brought up again much later on in Season 4, signifying some serious importance. Kelly also once said, referring to Ink: “What happens when they turn you, but you’re already a monster?” I don’t think this was just a throwaway guess. I think this has serious significance to the story and helps build my theory a bit.
Let’s use Datu and his perspective after he was turned. He said he felt like he was “watching his life through the backseat of his mind.” Like he was lacking control. But Ink retained control, and both of them are smart cookies. Why? Or why doesn’t Randy show nearly as much control as Ink, and why did his eyes AND Datu’s go cloudy?
You could say the eyes thing is related to how much control you retain, but with Scout’s Honor and Joe, and also Buffalo Bill, I don’t believe this is the case. Rather, there are THREE components at play that separate Ink / Datu and Randy / Joe and Buffalo Bill.
Using Burt’s first line, we can say intelligence is a factor in how much of yourself you maintain. But intelligence alone isn’t enough, because Randy didn’t have control like Ink did. Another factor is how much of a leader or a “follower” you are (wink wink). I think this plays into the clouding of the eyes. Every Infected we’ve seen without cloudy eyes is some kind of leader, Ink leading mass hordes, “Coal” leading the Scorpions, Buffalo Bill holding alpha status, and Joe leading the… other Scorpions. (I see what you did there, Kc) Now, whether or not the green eyes is a coincidence between all the leaders or green eyes form in Infected leaders, or green eyes has a relation to leadership, I’m not sure, but I do think how much of a leader you are also goes into play as to how much of yourself you retain.
Finally, using Kelly’s quote, how much of a monster you are. This is the third and most important component and it hasn’t been explored much, but I think there is something about how Infected turn that protects them from retaining their future self, should they hate what they’ve become. Basically, if someone who hated Infected turned, they would have the least control, because otherwise they would try and take themselves down. It’s like how humans have self-preservation, Infected also have a more complex self-preservation instinct.
The higher each of these components are, the more of yourself there is after you’re turned. Ink was a rare and lucky combo of all three, and so when he turned, he remained himself. Randy was high in intelligence but wasn’t a monster or a leader, so he had cloudy eyes and only had a small part of himself left inside. Datu was similar because he wasn’t a leader either and his eyes went cloudy, but he had a comparable intelligence. He also mentioned seeing from the backseat of his mind, as in being without control because he wasn’t a monster either.
Joe wasn’t a monster, but he was a leader. He most likely had a good intelligence because he was able to trap the kids in Scout’s Honor and predict their movements (if I listened to that right). So he didn’t retain his personality, because the “monster” part is what an Infected needs to be like themselves. In simplest terms, if you’re an unintelligent monster who follows rather than leads, you most likely won’t retain very much of yourself, but if you’re an intelligent leader who can’t stand hurting others, you would most likely see the same effect. You need all three to be like Ink.
This means Buffalo Bill was probably also a good person before death, as he shows leadership instincts and intelligence, but isn’t coherent like Ink.
Finally, there are two other parts of how the Infected work that are separate but I’d like to still mention them. One is physical characteristics, and the other is your deepest drive. I believe both of these are “amplified” once you turn. For physical characteristics, I think the changes an Infected goes under that makes them tougher, also makes them better in whatever they’re good at (an athletic person would become a runner, which could explain why jumpers were so rare because most people aren’t extremely good at jumping versus running. Also, the Infected are better on ground and chasing and so probably are strengthened in that field more).
The deepest drive thing comes from some of the conclusions made from Scout’s Honor and Descendants, with Fredo and the wedding couple and more. I think that whatever your deepest motivator or drive when you turn becomes your main drive as an Infected. I imagine the more you retain from life and the more control you have, the less of this exists, but it still does exist in everyone depending on how motivated of people they were. Many people who turned probably had no drive (like, living life day to day, with no goal), and that could explain why so many Infected are mindless.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on this and see if anyone agrees or disagrees. There’s a few leaps but I’ve tried to keep it as close to the story as I can.

Hello! I'm looking for some advice/your insight. Here's my dilemma:
Main idea: how to get rid of my many things
Option 1 - I have an estate sale. A local highly rated business owner came over and looked at my items and quoted me to make about 5-7k if I were to have an estate sale. This estate sale that she can run would have to happen next weekend when I'm already scheduled to be in Florida, so it would happen with me not in the area (which makes me nervous). The lady said she will draft a contract which I haven't seen yet. She takes 35% of the total purchases and itemizes the big items I have for sale only. She would hire people to help with the sale, averaging $15 p/h, which we would split the cost for. She can haul anything that doesn't sale for extra $. This would also mean I have to board my dogs or rent an airbnb for the 3 days of the sale (thur-sat) so they are out of the house. The house would sit empty when the sale is not happening.
Option 2 - I sell everything myself for cheap/in bundles on Facebook marketplace. I listed about 5 things so far (small items) and about 50% has sold within a day. I would make far less money this way and would donate more (most likely) but I do have 2.5 weeks to sell things.
Option 3 - I would do my own yard sale or estate sale, but I don't have any help, so I would have to reach out and see if I can pay people to help.
Thoughts y'all? Open to any ideas

Turns out, I'm not just a shy little introvert with ADHD as I've been lead to believe. I have a bit of the 'tism and it glides through my family.
Ive realized recently that throughout the years I've hurt a lot of people because I just didn't think highly of myself at all. I was bullied, became a bit of a bully back. Being a sarcastic asshole who always has something negative to say about EVERYTHING. It's how I was raised. I thought I didn't have friends because I was fat and ugly. Looking back, it was not the case. Well, not the whole case. As I gained "friends" in HS I learned how to be more social, unfortunately my friends were outcasts and a narcissist latched on to me as well.
I do care about people and things, I just don't know how to show it without cringing. There's an entire person inside of me wanting love and happiness and all the good things but I only show the angry defensive side to most people, especially now. I'm avoidant to the point I forget a person exists. I want friends but I'm afraid of finding out they're just as toxic and horrible as my old ones, or they're so pure that they wouldn't like me and my sharp attitude.
I don't want to be like this. I want to be able to open up to people again and feel loved. I'm not really even sure what that looks like these days. If I go back to my old friends, I feel like I wouldn't be able to to relax around them anymore. Always on edge, waiting for the bomb to drop. Again.
I have a hard time with my boundaries, not knowing when or how to protect them. It's either showing my belly or ripping out a throat. I've tried talking out my problems, but it just reminds me of when the Narcissist would have tell me lies straight into my eyes and make me believe it, even when I knew it was false. That when I confront them they lie so flawlessly about something I knew for a fact, I felt like the crazy one.
Now that you have some idea of where I'm at here, is there any way I can learn to be better? To stop hurting people, or rather, to notice HOW I'm hurting them when I say and do things I don't mean? A lot of times when I'm feeling low/negative I don't feel like I'm even in my own body. So it's hard to connect with other people in that state. Then I regret my actions and want to die because I hate the way I am. Please, I don't want to hurt people who don't deserve it, because of the people who DID.

So, I'm not entirely sure what my goal is with this post. One thing I know for certain is that it will be very long, and probably sort of jumbled and frantic, more stream of consciousness than anything. I guess I just sort of wanted to share some of the important realizations I've had in recent months, and see if: 1. Other people think that they're fair or "correct" realizations, and I'm not becoming, like, delusional or something. 2. Maybe my sharing these perspectives will help or inspire someone else who has struggled in ways similar to me.
So, here's the basic background of things. I've always been a really reserved and quiet person, ever since I was a little kid. Add in being skinny and nerdy for most of my life, and maxing out at a height of 5'9", and I'm not exactly a hot product for the average girl my age (19, turning 20 in a few weeks). In fact, I'd never had a relationship until this past year in college, but I'll get more into that in a minute. Hell, I hadn't had so much as a first kiss until this past year, either.
And, at the beginning of this past school year, being my second year of college (as a commuter student, so socializing is pretty difficult), I began to really get down on myself for having never been in a relationship, never kissed a girl, being a virgin, etc. It started to really take a toll on my mental health, because I believed that there was something intrinsically wrong and unlovable about me. Whereas a lot of young men who struggle socially romantically seem to be directing their sadness, frustration, and anger outward toward the world, especially toward women, I instead found myself directing those feeling toward myself. I was convinced that, on a basic level, there was some vital component to who I am as a person that disqualifies me from being worthy of love or affection. After all, that's what 19 years of evidence suggest, right?
Looking back, I think a large component in this was how I had been struggling, and still struggle to a degree, with my identity as a young man. I'm naturally a pretty progressive person, and I make an effort to be open to the perspectives of other groups and listen to their stories. Unfortunately, as we all know, a lot of people have been harmed by the men in their lives. And I know, I know: if I'm not doing anything wrong myself, then I shouldn't take any of these stories personally.But I guess, given the poor mental state that I was already in, I took it as validation that there was in fact something intrinsically wrong about me, and that thing was being a man. I started to avoid people on the street, especially if they were a woman or presented as feminine. At work, I avoid going anywhere near female customers, out of fear of making them uncomfortable. I'd keep my head down walking from class to class on campus, worried that I might make someone uneasy with my gaze. It wasn't that I thought I was a threat; in fact, I knew that I was not. But I also knew that the people around me didn't know that. In their eyes, maybe they have to assume that I'm a creep or that I'm a dangerous type of man. And it hurt to realize that, and I realize now, like I said, that I took it as validation that there was something intrinsically wrong with me.
Due to that, as well as other factors, such as stress and exhaustion from overworking (I'm a full-time student and work about 30 hours a week, which is a lot for me, might not be for others, I admit), I experienced some of the worst periods of depression I've ever had, since being diagnosed with it and anxiety in 2021. I tried going to therapy. I went to a few sessions, then gradually started missing more and more due to a lack of time, until my therapist cancelled all of our scheduled future sessions. It was on me. I wasn't committed.
I lost my passion for my hobbies and interests, like creative writing, which had previously been an important emotional outlet for me. A lot of nights would be spent lying in bed, listening to a playlist filled with sad music and hugging a pillow, wishing it was someone who loved me in the way that I thought, or hoped, love would work.
At the behest of my friends, to whom I only presented my issues as being a little down about never having been in a relationship, I started messing around with dating apps. At first, I felt good about making some sort of effort to put myself out there. Like I said, I've always been insanely reserved, so doing something like making a dating profile felt like an accomplishment. Of course, nothing much came of it. Over the five or so months that I was on the app, I maxed out at about six likes on my profile, and only matched with two people.
But one of those two people was a girl who went to the same college as me, and we seemed to have a lot of interests in common. And I mean a lot. To the point that it was almost comical. Of course, I realize now that having some hobbies in common isn't enough to form a good relationship with someone, but I realize now that I was just desperate for someone who I could convince myself halfway-tolerated me. She and I started to go out, and after a while, we decided to make things "official." My first kiss. My first relationship. My first girlfriend.
It lasted for only a few months. After a while, something felt off. I wasn't as excited to see her as I had been before. It was hard for us to make time for each other, between my working and her being involved in extracurricular stuff around campus. Car rides and dates began to be filled with longer and more frequent stretches of awkward silence, as I tried to think of something to say or talk about, only to come up empty-handed. As we got to know each other better, I realized that we didn't have as much in common as I first thought. She was a little more conservative, not necessarily in a political sense, but more in terms of "status", if that makes sense. I learned that financial success was very important to her parents, and I could tell that it was important to her, too. She avoided telling her parents that I was an English major, instead opting to tell them that I was getting a degree in computer science, as that was my minor at the time. It seemed to me that the status of a relationship was more important to her than the quality of the relationship (pot calling the kettle black, yes, I realize). For example, there was a dance on campus that she wanted to go to, pretty much just to take pictures of the two of us together so she could show them to friends and family. But as for the dance itself, it was more of the same that had been happening before: awkward silence, short conversations, lots of looking around at anything other than each other.
After a while, I decided that, for both of our sakes, I needed to break things off. I didn't want to waste her time when I knew that my heart wasn't in it anymore. So, at the beginning of April, I drove over to her dorm, and we talked it over in my car for a while. At the end, we hugged one last time, and I haven't seen her since.
I think a key component in the decision I made is the fact that I reconnected with some old friends from high school, who are still local, even though they are going to another university. Over Christmas break, I hung out with them for the first time since the pandemic as, during that time, I ended up having a falling out with them over some dumb high school drama and political differences. To my surprise, they had changed a lot, and had managed to pull themselves out of the incel trajectory that I had seen them beginning to fall down during high school. They were kinder, more accepting people. My surprise was matched only by my pride in them. I had feared and assumed the worst of them, and I couldn't have been happier to be proven wrong. Since then, I've been invited back into their group chats, and I see them in-person with some regularity, when our schedules allow it.
I think having that connection made me feel more comfortable with the idea of being single again, and since the break up, I've been able to rely on them for support, laughs, and just feeling like I have somewhere I belong. Before, I found myself desperate for any kind of connection and fell into a cycle of denying myself that connection because I was convinced that, since it didn't just present itself, I wasn't worthy of it.
And maybe it has something to do with that, but on the drive home from my now-ex's dorm (though I still wonder if I should/could really call her an ex. Sure, we agreed to make things "official", but we still only dated for a few months), I felt my perspective on, well, at the risk of sounding over-dramatic or overly romantic, everything, being to change.
And I guess that's what the title of this post is about. The things I've begun to realize in the time leading up to and following that break-up.
Above all else, I've realized the importance of connection. If I didn't have a stable friend group again, I don't know where I'd be. Probably still in a stale relationship, clinging on and trying to convince myself that I'm not feeling the way that I'm feeling. I have people to talk with again, to confide in when I feel stressed or depressed. I go out and do things again, which I didn't realize I hadn't really done very much since the pandemic.
But I know that for a lot of people who are/were in the position I had been in, finding friends is difficult. If it weren't for my unique circumstances of being reunited with an old, estranged group of friends, I would absolutely be in the same position. I still really struggle with social anxiety, and talking to new people is a huge struggle for me. So, I've also had some realizations that don't have as much to do with the friendship side of things, and I hope that these can be of some use to people who also struggle with social anxiety.
I know that the idea of "working on yourself" is cliche and overused, so I won't frame it exactly like that. In my opinion, saying it like that makes it sound too daunting and tedious, and having been in those dark, dark places myself, I know that it was the last thing I wanted to hear. So, instead, I like to think of it this way. It's more like living in spite of your circumstances. Over the course of this past year, I essentially shut my life down, because I was so convinced that there was no point, because I felt that I knew that I would never be loved or accepted. Now, I feel an urge to go on living for myself, almost in direct spite of the fear that I may be forever alone. It's a fear that I still deal with, and who knows, maybe things will end up that way.
And, I suppose, that leads into my main realization, which is sort of an extension/restatement of the last one, now that I think about it. I now feel the desire to accumulate enough in my life, to reach a point where I am satisfied enough, that I can rest knowing that I will be okay, with or without a relationship. Before, my self-worth was almost entirely attached to my relationship status, and my lack of romantic experience. Now, I realize that a relationship can only come when I don't need it, or at least don't feel that I need it. Being a huge nerd and a writer, I think a lot about quotes from books, shows, movies, and games that have stuck with and there's one from God of War: Ragnarok that comes to mind here (by the way, I actually highly recommend playing or watching a playthrough of God of War 2018 and Ragnarok if you've struggled with masculinity in the same way I have, the music and cutscenes from those games have actually helped to pull me out of some mental spirals about my self-worth and identity as a man). It comes from a scene in which Kratos confronts his younger self, and is trying to decide if he is willing/ready to be a god again:
"Should I lose everything and everyone, will there still be enough left inside so that I do not become you? I do not know. But I have hope."
It's a quote that resonates with me now more than ever (even though it's from a DLC that just came out around Christmas, lol). I know now that I want to get to a place where there is enough left inside me that I know I'll never fall into that dark mental state again.
Something else that I've noticed has happened is the return of my passions for my hobbies and interests, especially for writing. I don't want to sound too arrogant, but I think I've begun to realize an important goal for my writing. If I'm lucky enough, I want to be able to write and release stories that explore masculinity and isolation, and, if I can, I want to create stories that can help guide other young men and boys who have struggled in the way I have and continue to do. I want to create characters who serve as positive male role models, who are emotionally strong, intelligent, and kind. I want to write stories of personal redemption, and show that no one is truly ever too far gone to be able to recover. If my writing could help even just one person who is struggling, then I would consider my career to be a success.
At the risk of being too cheesy, I'd like to end this very long-winded post with another quote, this one from a YouTube channel I recently discovered, and one I would highly recommend to just about anyone: Cinema Therapy. It's from their video about "A Silent Voice", which also happens to be one of my favorite movies, and one of my main inspirations when it comes to the kinds of stories I want to tell.
"Depression doesn't go away, doesn't lift for most people. But there's a capacity to feel again. There's a capacity to feel joy. The cure for so many things is connection. And we may think 'no one want to connect with me.' But we just need to find the right people."
I think the only thing I would add to that is that, in my opinion, the connection can also be with yourself.

Hi Everyone! Looking for a sanity check on a project regarding pricing.
I was just working as a freelance shoote editor for a few years, and transitioned into a different full-time job with the intent of working on projects on the side. A friend who is relatively successful in the realm of corporate recruiting has a side business where she teaches job seekers how to find work (she gets like $800 to rewrite resumes JFC) and speaks publicly here and there. In trying to generate more passive income, she wants to create an online course and has hired some writers to work with her on the scripts. She's asked me for a quote to handle the shoot/ editing and told me her budget is about $8k.
The whole thing is projected about 90 minutes in length. Since the project will be mostly narrated video/ slides, she will only appear on camera for about 15-20% of that 90 minutes. if it's 12-18 minutes of finished footage, that sounds like a single day with just me (maybe an assistant?) two cameras, three lights, and an audio kit. Seems relatively straightforward to me.
The edit is the tricky part. Sounds like I'll have about a month to complete a 90-minute project. In a vacuum, that sounds *insane* but the nature of narrated clips of someone on a computer *might* mean the creator is picking the best take, and that removes a lot of work. I might be, at the end of the day, doing some finishing work, and cutting 15-minutes of talking head footage, which sounds pretty easy since it's already scripted.
The course is broken into four modules that are 20-25 minutes in length. I'm thinking it makes sense to treat it like it's 4 edits that are 20 minutes long, and saying it's $1k for each. Does that make sense?
Thanks!

***I meant black women *sorry abt the typos
I just made this more as a celebratory post, because for decades black men have shunned black wlmen, more specifically dark-skin black women, about how we are undesirable and all. not everyone may agree but in my opinion more white men, especially rich white men (not that it matters) are beginning to get with black women way more and of course black men start their rant about how they don’t mean it or are just using us because they don’t wanna see us happy. they especially mad because the white men pick the kind of women they LOVE to talk bad about..black women. I just think this is a huge step forward for us, ESPECIALLY dark skin women. it’s just another sign about how the whole undesirable crap is a lie because some black men know the truth and try to push it down. just a reminder we aren’t undersierable..that’s what they want us to think. We are starting to get more regonition and I'm here for it 💗
here's the quote: Billionaires prefer Black women. They are loyal and guard your interests. Black wives are for grownups” -Ben Horowitz

Quote

”The point of existence is to be part of the force of the universe.”
— Libb Thims (A69), “mental note“, wake-up state (sleep: 7:16-hours); reflection on (a) “force moves body” (Clausius, A90), mediating work done therein, becoming a conserved quantity, according to the first law of the universe, reply; (b) point of everything (A50) back-cover; (c) the “point” inside of the mysterious 𓇳 [N5] circle-dot symbol, in this new banner, for the HieroTypes sub, explained with respect to the circle-dot unit seen as the first unit of the Maya (3280A), Amenemope (3250A), and Osorkon II (2792A) Cubit rulers, discussed in this video, seemingly the pole ⭐️ star or the polaris-sun ⭐️-☀️ re-birth combo [?]; and (d) reflection on 4+ years work done ✔️, with respect to Egypto Alphanumerics (EAN), which now provides a method to be able to define the root Etymo of the key terms: point, existence, be, force, universe, as will be done in the etymo sections of each newly re-written article, when Hmolpedia gets back online, in particular the difficult two-term word: “be” or 𓇯 {𓁅, 𓂺 𓏥} [N1, A60, D53, Z2] in LunarScript, which encodes the E² perfect birth triangle cipher, 10:59AM May 16

​

I wasn't sure if I should use the positive or women author tag so sorry if this is a bad post, I just had to share somewhere!! Here's the quote:
"“Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I daresay, it succeeds; but, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.”"
I love that this is practically the wrote definition of 'pick me', but from so long ago!!! and I also love that with context it's an example of weaponizing pick me against a woman who is not a pick me (as Eliza was commenting on Darcys bs, not putting down women). I tend to think of pick me to be a modern problem, but Austin nailed it, as per usual.

I've been quite active on this subreddit for a while now, so I come with yet another question.
I wish to be an English teacher in the future, so, obviously for my Bachelor I wish to make the right choice, but I am extremely undecided between two, very good in my opinion, options!
First option would be to pursue an HBO Bachelor in International Education with a specialization in English, which would give me the opportunity to have up to 11 weeks of practice in International schools and to master the knows-and-how's of TEFL. The programme says that it teaches students to, and I quote:

In your first year, year 1, you explore what it means to assume the role of a teacher in international education. You become aware of your own cultural identity and acquire intercultural skills. You encounter the social aspects of learning and teaching in a global context through the course units of Exploring the world of international education, Citizenship and Educational Studies. In the DBE lab, you'll work on creating a lesson using the design cycle, collaborating with students from different specializations.

For the former years it still teaches you things along the lines of this + A LOT of practice. Thing is, this Bachelor does not instantly offer you a Dutch Teaching Permit, rather it gives you a Teaching Permit for International Schools. They say I can do the pedagogy module while doing my Bachelor, but would that allow me to teach English in Dutch Public schools? Besides that, I don't know whether I could potentially go to a WO master after pursuing this HBO bachelor, any thoughts on this subject?
Second option, the usual one, would be for me to pursue a WO Bachelor of European Languages and Culture (Specialization in English + Another language if possible), do the pedagogy curriculum and then pursue a Master's programme in a more in-depth subject.
Which would be a better option and which do you guys think would be more beneficial to me? I'd like to study up to a PhD, is that even possible for HBO graduates?
​

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DdJxUSevYf0
jonathan
jonathan bailey
jonathan kuminga stats
jonathan adler
jonathan and jesus
jonathan antoine wife
jonathan adams movies and tv shows
about jonathan swift
adler jonathan
a jonathan grave thriller
antoine jonathan
about jonathan roumie
anderson jonathan
about jonathan edwards
allen jonathan
about jonathan cahn
jonathan banks movies and tv shows
jonathan bennett movies
jonathan brandis movies and tv shows
jonathan bailey met gala
beautiful day jonathan roy
bridgerton jonathan bailey
brandis jonathan
beverly hills cop jonathan banks
bible david and jonathan
bgmi jonathan id
bernier jonathan
be jonathan livingston seagull
banks jonathan
books by jonathan haidt
jonathan cainer
charlotte and jonathan
chef jonathan whitener
colts jonathan taylor
cast of jonathan creek
crossroads jonathan franzen
creed 3 jonathan majors
creed jonathan majors
cahn jonathan
conricus jonathan
crombie jonathan
jonathan davino age
jonathan diller
jonathan davino net worth
dax shepard jonathan van ness
drew and jonathan scott
drew and jonathan
david jonathan
david and jonathan in the bible
don leo jonathan
david and jonathan friendship
davino jonathan
demme jonathan
diller jonathan
jonathan edwards resolutions
ellie and jonathan mafs
emma duncan jonathan majors
escape to the dream jonathan parents
eagles jonathan taylor
esther jonathan chant mp3 download
emily blunt jonathan ross
ellen chung jonathan gerrish
edwards jonathan
equerry jonathan thompson
elvis jonathan rhys meyers
jonathan frakes movies and tv shows
jonathan freeman movies and tv shows
jonathan f. mitchell
jonathan frakes net worth
freedom jonathan franzen
funeral for jonathan diller
franzen jonathan
film jonathan cohen
frozen jonathan groff
fantasy jonathan taylor
friendship of david and jonathan
feliz cumpleaños jonathan
fifa 23 jonathan david
foer jonathan safran
jonathan groff movies and tv shows
jonathan glazer oscar speech
jonathan glazer movies
jonathan glazer speech
goodluck jonathan
grace jabbari jonathan majors
glazer jonathan
general marcus jonathan
glee jonathan groff
gremlins jonathan banks
groff jonathan
greenblatt jonathan
gray jonathan
gilbert jonathan
jonathan hoffman sandra layne
jonathan hyde movies and tv shows
jonathan haidt books
haidt jonathan
haggerty jonathan
hatami jonathan
huberdeau jonathan
how much is jonathan d shoes
height of jonathan kuminga
how much is jonathan owens net worth
how much is jonathan d
hickman jonathan
how much is jonathan majors net worth
jonathan isaac stats
jonathan isaac shoes
jonathan india stats
jonathan isaac contract
jonathan isaac wife
jonathan in spanish
isaac jonathan
is jonathan bailey
india jonathan
is jonathan majors
i jonathan vinyl
it jonathan brandis
is jonathan bennett
is jonathan roumie
is jonathan taylor thomas
jonathan joestar
jonathan jossel
jonathan jackson wife
jesus and jonathan
james jonathan
jonathan jonathan mp3 download
jonathan butler jonathan butler songs
jonathan richman i jonathan
joseph jonathan
jones jonathan
jonathan edwards jonathan edwards
joestar jonathan
jackson jonathan
kingsley jonathan
korn jonathan davis
kang the conqueror jonathan majors
kim and jonathan
kuminga jonathan
kellerman jonathan
keeping me alive jonathan roy
korean jonathan
king jonathan
kellerman jonathan books in order
jonathan lipnicki movies
jonathan lawson
jonathan lewis
loki jonathan majors
lekkerimäki jonathan
las vegas jonathan lewis
lethem jonathan
lipnicki jonathan
lehrer jonathan
lapaglia jonathan
larson jonathan
lemire jonathan
las vegas jonathan lewis video
jonathan majors movies and tv shows
jonathan majors wife
jonathan majors net worth
jonathan majors girlfriend
meagan good and jonathan majors
michael jonathan peterson
major jonathan thompson
myles jonathan brando
majors jonathan
mr norrell and jonathan strange
mingo jonathan
marchessault jonathan
movies with jonathan majors
mcreynolds jonathan
jonathan name meaning
jonathan nolan movies and tv shows
jonathan nolan fallout
jonathan nyce
jonathan name
nypd jonathan diller
nancy and jonathan
news on jonathan taylor
name jonathan
name jonathan meaning
net worth of jonathan gaming
nelson jonathan
nolan jonathan
nelson jonathan i believe download mp3
net worth of jonathan owens
jonathan owens net worth
jonathan owens height
jonathan owens stats
jonathan owens simone biles
jonathan owens contract
jonathan owens wife
officer jonathan diller
oregon state jonathan smith
one piece jonathan
owens jonathan
opera singer jonathan
open letter jonathan glazer
osorio jonathan
ogden jonathan
order of jonathan cahn books
oscars jonathan glazer
jonathan pryce movies and tv shows
jonathan pangborn
police officer jonathan diller
patience jonathan
purity jonathan franzen
packers jonathan owens
pollard jonathan
pageau jonathan
producer jonathan wang
panzo jonathan
pryce jonathan
prince jonathan
jonathan quick stats
jonathan queer eye husband
jonathan quick trade
johnathan quiles
jonathan quick age
jonathan quick contract
jonathan queer eye pronouns
queer eye jonathan
queer eye jonathan husband
queer eye jonathan van ness
quick jonathan
quotes from jonathan livingston seagull
queen of the damned jonathan davis
que significa jonathan
queer eye jonathan hiv
queer eye jonathan pronouns
quotes by jonathan edwards
jonathan roumie movies and tv shows
jonathan roumie commencement speech
jonathan roumie wife
jonathan roumie net worth
jonathan roumie religion
rabbi jonathan sacks
reddit jonathan majors
rea jonathan
roumie jonathan
restaurant jonathan
resolutions of jonathan edwards
rowe jonathan
real name of jonathan
rhys jonathan
ross jonathan
jonathan simkhai
jonathan sadowski movies and tv shows
jonathan schmitz
sydney sweeney jonathan davino
stranger things jonathan
swift jonathan
seagull jonathan livingston
scott jonathan
stroud jonathan
schoop jonathan
stats jonathan huberdeau
shuttlesworth jonathan
sacks jonathan
jonathan taylor thomas movies and tv shows
jonathan the tortoise
jonathan tucker movies and tv shows
the jonathan ross show
the jonathan club
taylor jonathan
toews jonathan
turley jonathan
the meaning of jonathan
triple jump jonathan edwards
trade for jonathan taylor
t jonathan osgood
the seagull jonathan livingston
jonathan urban dictionary
jonathan uconn
jonathan uhr
jonathan uso
jonathan uhr obituary
jonathan upchurch
unitus jonathan isaac
unitus jonathan isaac website
unitus shoes jonathan isaac
update on jonathan taylor
update on jonathan majors
ultimate spider man jonathan hickman
unravel jonathan young lyrics
urban dictionary jonathan
under the skin jonathan glazer
uconn husky jonathan
jonathan van ness husband
jonathan van ness pronouns
jonathan van ness tour
jonathan van ness net worth
vice admiral jonathan
victoria aitken jonathan aitken
video of jonathan lewis
video of jonathan majors
vikings jonathan rhys meyers
viscount clive jonathan herbert
virgo jonathan cainer
vampyr jonathan reid
variety jonathan glazer
victoria and jonathan amazing race
who is jonathan majors
who is jonathan majors girlfriend
who is jonathan owens
who is jonathan davino
where is jonathan kuminga from
where is jonathan toews
who is jonathan roumie
who is jonathan van ness
who is jonathan bailey
who is jonathan glazer
jonathan xv
jonathan x steve
jonathan xiong
jonathan xie
jonathan x argyle
jonathan x damian
jonathan xiv
jonathan x speedwagon
jonathan x nancy
x-men jonathan hickman
x-men by jonathan hickman omnibus
x factor jonathan and charlotte
x factor jonathan
xanax jonathan adler
x-men by jonathan hickman vol. 1
xqf paraboy vs jonathan
xanax pillow jonathan adler
x-men inferno jonathan hickman
x-men by jonathan hickman omnibus review
jonathan yudelman
jonathan yudelman asu
jonathan yudelman rate my professor
jonathan yudelman video
jonathan yudelman reddit
jonathan y rugs
youtube jonathan cahn
young jonathan banks
young jonathan davis
youtube jonathan pie
young jonathan majors
young jonathan taylor thomas
you'll be back jonathan groff
your world jonathan mcreynolds
young jonathan groff
yiombi jonathan
jonathan zallez
jonathan zeizel
jonathan zucker
jonathan zambrano
zooey deschanel and jonathan scott
zooey deschanel jonathan scott split
zack moss or jonathan taylor
zooey and jonathan
zooey deschanel husband jonathan scott
zooey deschanel and jonathan scott married
zooey deschanel jonathan scott baby
zone of interest jonathan glazer
zebulon police chief jonathan hemphill
zoe jonathan wolf
jonathan 007 smith
jonathan 0705
jonathan 0301
jonathan_00
jonathan_0934
jonathan_01
jon 0201
jon-0304jc
jonathan pryce 007
jonathan plots the graph of the equation y=0.5x3−4
jonathan rivera 04
jonathan hunt 007
jonathan's condominiums hampton nh 03842
jonathan rivera 04 tiktok
jonathan a physician earns $200 000
jonathan young 10 000 light years lyrics
jonathan bailey 007
scp 001 jonathan ball
jonathan 15
jonathan 14
jonathan 13
jonathan 192 tortoise
jonathan 1 9
jonathan 191 year old tortoise
jonathan 16
jonathan 12 uconn
1800 jonathan way reston va
1996 jonathan taylor thomas calendar
10 facts about jonathan swift
10 jonathan street warners bay
12 jonathan lane sandwich ma
107 jonathan trl glastonbury ct
1287 jonathan lane wantagh ny
1 samuel david and jonathan
13 jonathan court warwick ny
13 stories jonathan sims
jonathan 2016 cast
jonathan 2013
jonathan 2013 short movie
jonathan 2018 videos
jonathan 2013 short film
jonathan 2 finger control code bgmi
24/7 jonathan crary
2023 jonathan taylor thomas
2/22 jonathan street warners bay
238 jonathan road new canaan
2021 jonathan taylor stats
2021 jonathan taylor fantasy
21 days jonathan roy
2024 horoscope jonathan cainer
247 jonathan paylor
247 jonathan daniels
jonathan 30 rock
jonathan 3 on 1 fight
jonathan 30 rock reddit
jonathan 3 16
jonathan 30 rock season 6
jonathan 3x sensitivity
jonathan 350r
jonathan's 3rd avenue
30 rock jonathan
36 questions jonathan groff
30/90 jonathan larson
3626 jonathan circle augusta ga
3534 jonathan cir
32 jonathan circle merrimack nh
378 jonathan street london
3333 jonathan rd oxford mi
3350 jonathan edwards circle shreveport la
3437 jonathan circle
jonathan 49ers
jonathan 42 survivor
jonathan 494
jonathan 49ers cheerleader
jonathan 4k wallpaper
jonathan 4 finger claw code
jonathan 4k image
jonathan 4x sensitivity
48 jonathan drive east hampton
48 hours jonathan vigliotti
4am jonathan dorf
48 jonathan st greystanes
48 hours jonathan banks
4006 jonathan st waterloo ia
4449 jonathan lane beamsville
4a jonathan street warners bay
4696 jonathan creek road
417 jonathan street hagerstown md
jonathan 5 bullets
jonathan 550 children
jonathan 550 kids
jonathan 550
jonathan 5 goli
jonathan 50 first dates
jonathan 5 star astd
jonathan 550 child
jonathan 50 first dates trans
5 facts about jonathan edwards
5 facts about jonathan swift
5 gifts jonathan gave david
56 jonathan drive mahopac ny
50 cent jonathan ross show
55 jonathan st hagerstown md
50 first dates jonathan
5309 jonathan ct
5137 jonathan
5/19 jonathan street greystanes
jonathan 6 star astd
jonathan 6x sensitivity
6 jonathan court brown hill
611 jonathan hoffman rd
6 jonathan court barrie
68 jonathan street eleebana
616 jonathan glen way
6616 jonathan dearborn mi
603 jonathan lane marlton nj
6a jonathan close coffs harbour
6 red jonathan ct
684 jonathan road hannibal mo
6595 jonathan st pfafftown
600 jonathan hoffman rd
jonathan 70s on 7
jonathan 7 lives of lea
jonathan 7 star astd
john 7
7 jonathan street warners bay
7 jonathan street upper coomera
716 jonathan hoffman rd
73 jonathan lane ontario ny
7986 jonathan drive ooltewah tn
70 resolutions of jonathan edwards
7th avenue jonathan butler
7 lives of lea jonathan
73 jonathan drive manahawkin nj
7434 jonathan drive niagara falls
714 jonathan st athens tx
7413 jonathan drive
jonathan 8n spanish
jon 8 out of 10 cats
86 jonathan lucas st
john 8
818 jonathan way kingsport tn
83 jonathan street eleebana
8 jonathan rd burlington ma
jon 85 south show
89 jonathan trl glastonbury ct
882 jonathan way altamonte springs
8075 jonathan drive ooltewah tn
80s jonathan sceats glasses
8/26 jonathan avenue burwood east
8027 jonathan drive ooltewah tn
8 jonathan court
jonathan 90 day fiance
jonathan 90 day fiance wife
jonathan 90 day fiance reddit
jonathan 90210
jonathan 90 day fiance ethnicity
jonathan 90 day fiance wife instagram
jonathan 90s
jonathan 90 day fiance baby
jonathan 90 day fiancé new wife
90 day fiance fernanda and jonathan
90 day fiance jonathan
96 jonathan lucas st
90s jonathan davis
90s jonathan taylor thomas
90 day fiance fernanda and jonathan reddit
90 day fiance jonathan and fernanda instagram
97 jonathan lucas street
99 jonathan lucas street
90s jonathan brandis

Hello fellow potatoes! And to the potato queen herself, girl, you're amazing!!! I just found your channel a few months ago, but I'm a huge fan. I don't have a lot of time for videos, but when I do get to watch, I watch yours.
Have I got a boomemil story for you! Let's go on an adventure...warning...I tell stories with rabbit holes and tangents. This is probably gonna be too long. I'm sorry!!!
So, the characters are me (40f), boomer MIL (64f BM for short, like bowel movement bc she's caca), my oldest son, (17m), and my church "mom" (65f CM for short).
A little background: BM thinks she's an awesome mom and grandma even though she's not. She uses my kids as facebook props to show off how "wonderful" she is. The only reason she was around my kids so often was because we went to the same church. She lived 10 minutes down the road from us, but could never be bothered to come over or have anything to do with any of us is if we didn't initiate. She has always said that if we ever try to threaten to keep our kids away from her, like if we were having a disagreement, that she would not fight to see them. We've never threatened to keep our kids from her, she just wanted us to know that she didn't give a sh!t to see her gandkids. So, that tells you right there, that she's a grandma when it's convenient for her.
She's of the boomer mentality that mental health issues are made up and aren't real. "You have nothing to be depressed about." "Just snap out if it." "Just be happy." You get the point. I struggle with depression, I always have. She doesn't understand or even try to understand and is the least empathetic person I've ever met.
When I get overwhelmed, I get depressed, and I start shutting down. My plate is overflowing right now. Between the end of the school year and the possibility of us moving states, I've been overwhelmed. My oldest is a senior and the last month of senior year is crazy busy. I have another child (11m) in public school and this is his last year of elementary school, so this has been an extremely busy month for him. I have 3 more kids that do online public school/homeschool. So, they're home all day with online classes, but since they're a public school, they have mandatory state testing just like regular public school. I have had to take them to do state testing on 4 different days overyhe last few weeks and the meeting place was 45 minutes from home, at a conference room in a mall. I also babysit 3 kids (1m, 4m, 4f), so hanging out for 4 to 5 hours a day on 4 different days with a shitload of kids at the f#cking mall was not easy. Not to mention the positions and "jobs" that I hold at church. To say I'm busy is an understatement.
We've been planning on moving for the last few months because a position at my husband's work is coming open near where he grew up, which is in another state. His parents recently moved back to their hometown after my FIL retired, so one reason for the move would be to be closer to them. They are getting older, so I would be taking care of them once they needed it, so moving closer seemed like a great option. Also, it's a lower COL area than we live in now. Currently we live in the metro area of a capital city and we would be moving to a middle of nowhere po'dunk town.
Told you, rabbit holes, thanks for still being with me!!!
And this is just the straw that broke the camel's back, this is not the only reason for my decision.
So, to the actual story...
Last week, I got a mother's day card in the mail from BM. She's a dollar tree card fanatic. It was a very typical card that she sends me. Nothing handwritten except for "love, grandma and grandpa." This is what she writes in all my cards. (Another tangent...last year my mom passed a month before mother's day and that actual mother's day was her and my dad's anniversary. And I had a super complicated relationship with my momster. So, it was an exceptionally hard day for me. The card she got me said "Daughter" in huge letters on the front. I thought it was so incredibly passive aggressive and completely inappropriate for that year. If it would've been any other year, it would've been fine. Also, she never gets me cards that just say "daughter" so, to me, it was a low blow.) (Yet another tangent...she does passive aggressive crap all the time, for instance when she used to do fb birthday posts, she would always ask me to send her a pic to post. I'm picky about what pics are used and she knows that. Last year, I sent her a great pic of me and her son to use. So, she used one from about 12 years ago that looked like absolute poop. It was a surprise pic, so like not even posed, stupid look on my face. No matter what pic I send, and usually send like 3, she uses a completely different one that doesn't even look good.) I got the card last Tuesday. Hubby happened to be talking to her while driving home from work that day, so when he got home, I thanked her for the card and just wanted to give her a heads up that I hadn't gotten a chance to mail hers yet because of everything I had going on. I kinda broke down and was sharing how I felt and she basically just said, "suck it up, it'll be fine." She's always been dismissive of my feelings, always.
So, my CM is the sweetest lady you'll ever meet. She listens to me, lets me share my feelings without being dismissive, and actually shows she cares. I see her twice weekly at church, and text with her during the week. Since BM has moved 8 moths ago, she has called or texted "just to talk or check in on us" less than a handful of times. She only calls/texts when she needs something or on a special occasion. She called my husband to ask about something, not just to talk. I understand now why the oldest grandson, my nephew, didn't even bother to invite her to his and his girlfriend's baby shower where he proposed. She thinks she's an amazing grandma bc she sends birthday money in a card and posts their pics on Facebook. And, she even stopped posting the kids birthday messages on fb bc she said it was "too much trouble." So, she just sticks to her 30 daily inspirational Bible quotes posts. She's the type that was so pissed off that both of her kids went with courthouse marriages instead of going into debt for a wedding because she didn't get to walk down the aisle at her kids' weddings and post pics on fb. She's mentioned this several times, but definitely wasn't even willing to spend a dime towards a wedding that no one wanted except her. She was also unwilling to take a day off work to go to the courthouse with us. With both of her kids' marriages, the kids and partners were together for a while and had kids before getting married, so spending tons of money on a huge wedding for either of us couples wouldn't have been the best way to spend money.
On mother's day, I gave my CM a card with a few lines written in it about how amazing she is and how I'm so grateful for her. I'm way closer to her than BM. CM is my chosen family and to me, your chosen family is the one that means more because you chose them, you didn't just get stuck with them. My blood family is incredibly toxic, so I stick with my chosen family. CM made a fb post with all that she got for mother's day. It was gifts and cards from her own children, and of course my card as well. CM & BM are fb friends, so of course BM saw it. Also, BM has everyone convinced she's this sweet, little old church lady, but she is far from it.
So, this Tuesday she got her cards in the mail. I always give her one from hubby and myself, and a separate one from our boys. I wrote a nice little note in it. Not long, a line or 2, but it was more effort than she put into my card. She sent me and hubby the following in a group text...
Copy and pasted, only edited out names.
"Got my cards in the mail today. 😭. They were post marked Saturday. You could of kept them til I got there or next year. It's like yall bought them Saturday, wrote a few words and rushed to get them to post office. My heart 💔broken. I thought I deserved better. I wish I could send pictures of my card verses [CM] 😩 card. I couldnt tell which gift was yours. But least I have a year to try do better and be worthy of such wonderful words of love and praise that was written to her.
I don't mean to complain or seem ungrateful but I wished you hadn't mailed them.😭😭. I can't explain how crushed I am.😔 Anyway hopefully I will see yall on the 20th."
Note: my oldest son is graduating on the 20th. She was supposed to drive down and spend the night with us to attend the graduation. I honestly believe she picked this fight because she doesn't want to drive the 6 hours down here.
If you "don't mean to complain or seem ungrateful" then why tf did you send it? I asked my husband what was his initial reaction and he said, "Really?!? All she had to do was say thanks."
So, after I talked to my husband and oldest son (I wanted to make sure everyone was on board with what I was saying before I sent it) , I sent her this response:
"I mailed them on Friday, I bought them several weeks ago. I told you I hadn't mailed them yet because I've been in a deep depression and you dismissed my feelings like always. I have real, valid feelings and you always dismissed them as silly. And come after me because now you're feelings are hurt. Wow, ok. The absolute audacity. And it's not just with your cards that I'm slacking. It's with everything. Because I have depression. I'm overwhelmed on top of that and literally the only thing you care about is a card. I tried to express my feelings the other day on the phone and you dismissed them like you always do. I know things will be fine, but in this moment they are not and you don't get that. Because you don't understand how or why I feel the way I do, then my feelings are silly or invalid to you.
And I never gave [CM] a present. Don't know why you thought that.
Don't worry about coming down on the 20th."
She replies by trying to blackmail me;
"Well my am so sorry I said anything. I never realized you thought that about me. I never dismissed your depression but yes i never knew what to do for you. I am not going to go back and forth about this. I will text [son] and let him know you told me not to come."
She's not sorry to me for being dismissive, she's sorry because now she doesn't get her "Proud MeMe moment" and can't post pictures of her at his graduation on fb. And even if she didn't "know what to do" for me, all she had to do was ask. Or listen. Or give a damn hug. But, no, she just dismissed me bc to her depression isn't real. And she's not going back and forth bc she knows shes wrong! Little did she know that I had already cleared it with hubby and son before sending the text, so I think she thought it would make me look bad to my oldest son that I told her no to come. Oldest son said, "I'm neutral, I don't care if she comes or not. It's not like she's had anything to do with us since she moved, and barely had anything to do with us when she was here."
So, my last text to her said, "He knows. I asked him before I texted you, and he's good with it."
All she had to do was say thanks or not even say anything at all. But, no, she had to say something stupid. Even her own son said that she's lucky she even got a card bc if it was up to him, her actual son, she wouldn't have gotten anything. So, not only is she not invited to the graduation, she's never welcome in my home again. The great part is I don't have to share my holidays with her ever again!!! And please know that I'd never keep her grandchildren from her, but if she wants a relationship with them, she'll have to put some effort in. And we all know boomers hate effort.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my rant. I appreciate you my friends!

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

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

&

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VII. The Devs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

&

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

&

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

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

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

Codirector Nomura said the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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