uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i made it into the macos installer screen... the config.plist didnt transfer over when i copied the efi folder from my backup on my desktop.
Never mind, I got it. I just copied the EFI partition from the flash drive to the EFI partition of the hard drive. Thank you so FRICKING much for all of the help! you're awesome.
15 year old me is happy to now have a mac for my work