Are there any industry or standards efforts being made to change how electric motors are designed, so that there is a relatively simple way to bolt on a separately powered cooling fan to a very slowly turning motor, that has its speed regulated with a VFD?
Are there any standardized adaptation methods for adding externally powered cooling to existing motors retrofitted with a VFD to save energy, such as replacing OEM motor frame bolts with extra long drop-in replacement bolts, to provide mounting points for an external cooling fan and shroud?
Background:
This is a design and implementation problem for motors equipped with VFDs. Running a speed-controlled motor too slowly can lead to overheating, because the built-in cooling fan blades are direct-driven on the common shaft of the motor.
The built-in cooling fan may only work as intended at the normal full speed of the motor which previously pushed at full power all the time against a flow restriction valve to regulate output, and so it constantly wasted energy.
With a Variable Frequency Drive, the flow restriction is removed and instead the motor speed directly regulates flow, saving energy. But if the motor spins too slowly, it can overheat to the point that the electrical insulation melts and shorts out, destroying the motor.
There was a similar problem with combustion engine vehicles until about the 1980s that used a crankshaft driven fan. Idling the engine for a long period of time could lead to overheating because the direct-driven fan is spinning too slowly.
This was solved in the 1980s with the transition to separate electric radiator fans that cycle on and off independent of engine speed.

Hi there guys! Came here to ask some stuff my build (recommendations, opinions) and tell you about my (ongoing) journey with the air cooler Dan A4 H2O.
Part list:
Case: Dan A4 H20
Motherboard: AsRock H670M-ITX/ax
CPU: Intel i5-13400F
CPU cooler: stock Intel box cooler
Ram: 2x16gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti LP (placeholder)
SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB
PSU: be quiet! SFX L Power, 80+ Gold, 500W
Case Fans: 2x Arctic F12 PWM PST (set to exhaust)
Temps:
On idle: CPU 40-50 °C , GPU 30 °C
Under load: CPU around 80, GPU 50°C top
The fans on the top really help with the airflow and get the temps down. The RM1 stock cooler does the job, but in my opinion gets pretty loud and obnoxious. The F12's are really quiet, and as the internet says, they're a great and cheap alternative to the Noctua fans.
Temps could be improved, but at the cost of noise. I'm using FanControl to set up the custom fan curves.
Overall Impressions:
The Dan A4 H20 is an amazing case, it feels premium. Nice to build in and intuitive, would really recommend. Everything fits nicely, but the SFX-L PSU has its challenges regarding cable management.
Future plans (and where I'm now asking for your guidance):
I have some upgrades in mind: I've bought a Thermalright CPU Contact Frame from Ali Express, because I've heard it could bring better pressure distribution on the CPU, correct or prevent CPU bend, and, in some cases, improve temps.
Because I don't really like the noise and would seek lower temps overall, I'm thinking of grabbing the Alpenföhn Black Ridge. I'm considering either this or the Noctua NH-L9i-17xx. Both seem to perform roughly the same, but the Black Ridge is a bit cheaper. Which would ultimately be better?
As for the GPU, I've been thinking a lot about what to get, but I've mostly come to the conclusion that the RX 6700 XT is the best candidate. Specifically, the XFX RX 6700 XT SPEEDSTER SWFT 309. It has 12GB of Vram, is better than the RTX 3060 Ti, is sometimes compared to the RTX 3070, is power efficient enough to fit inside the current PSU (I know the recemented wattage is around 600W, but I think it should be fine, furthermore with a slight undervolt - please slap me if the assumption is wrong, do tell if I should get a better PSU). The price is also magnificent, Can't wait for the RX 7700 XT to come out so prices go down even more. Also about the RX 7700 XT - if the offer will be good enough so that it competes, might consider it over the RX 6700 XT.
If you have any suggestions about about anything that could be improved, anything I should not do or any overall tips. I'd also be more than happy to answer any other question about my build, to the best of my ability. Thank you for taking the time to read and think about anything that I've said here! Cheers!

The No 1 truth about humans: They are stupid.
Krill was waiting in the docking bay, watching as his new medical equipment was wheeled up the ramp. Sunny stood next to him, holding a data pad and checking off the shipping manifest as it was wheeled on.
Conn floated a few feet away from them, ribbons on his back billowing and churning slowly in the air currents.
He was currently occupied staring down at the screen of his handheld.
Ever since the captain had gotten him that game, he hadn't stopped playing.
It was a nice break from his usual acerbic, nosy nature.
The last line of medical equipment was being loaded up the ramp, when Conn suddenly looked up from his game. He stared into nothing for a second and then signed:
”Oh boi…”
He turned his head towards the interior doors and signed something again, which was quickly translated by his automated gloves,
"Prepare yourselves."
"Prepare ourselves? For what?"
The question didn't hang on the air for very long, before the sounds of human exuberance reached them from down the hall.
Sunny shook her head and Krill sighed, and the three of them braced themselves as the commander rolled onto deck with his heelies, skidding to a stop and running towards the line of boxes,
"Is it here!? Did you get it!?"
"Get what?"
Sunny muttered, he snatched the data pad from her hand, scrolling through the checked boxes.
"Hey! What are you-"
"Ah ha! There it is!"
He began laughing and giggling maniacally, running over to a line of already checked boxes, hopping up and down in place and rubbing his hands together.
The three aliens exchanged a worried glance. Sunny sighed,
"What did you do?”
The man waved a hand at her, as one of the cargo workers opened a box for him,
"What did I do? What did I do? I will tell you what I did! I just made this ship officially the most awesome ship in the fleet."
”Oh god I’m here long enough to know that can’t be good…”
Krill muttered, while Sunny asked:
"And how exactly did you do that?"
"I thought we were already the most awesome ship in the fleet?"
The commander was seconds from squealing with delight, as the man cracked open the crate and let the sides fall to the deck.
There were a few boxes in there, but the commander didn't seem to care about most of them, grabbing a single big box from the pile and hauling it onto the floor, where he could get a better look,
"Gah, its heavy, that's good."
Krill frowned,
"I'm not going to like this, am I?"
The commander continued to grin,
"Nope, you're gonna hate it, and that's how I know it's going to be great."
Krill sighed. Sunny stepped forward as the man frantically ripped open the box, like a man possessed.
The crate opened and the man was now laughing maniacally,
"Yes! Yes! Yes! MUHAHAHAHA!"
Krill and the others wandered over, glancing down into the box.
Conn sighed, a sound he had specifically programmed into his gloves.
Sunny tilted her head,
"What is it?”
The human reached inside, grabbed a thick, pamphlet with one hand and tossed it out of the way.
Krill was forced to duck to the side as the book went flying past his head and skidded across the floor.
He glanced over and saw the words.
JETPACK OPERATIONS MANUAL
**"NO! Oh no! no! No! No! ADAM NO!”
"ADAM YES! Yes in every way!"
The commander said, tearing into the foam packaging that held the unit inside.
When he finally pulled it out, he grunted with its weight and sat back on the cold metal floor, cradling it against his knees to get a better look,
"Ah, just look at it! Look at it! Ahhhhh! Best day ever!"
"No, you send that right back to where it came from!"
Krill was saying,
"I have a hard enough time getting you to keep your feet on the ground. I will not let you do this stupid, reckless-"
Sunny picked the manual off the ground with one of her smaller hands, while the main pair of hands was crossed in disdain in front of her torso.
"Adam don't you think you should read the instructions first?”
The human was standing now and had the jetpack propped on the side of a crate, threading his arms through the upper harness.
”What part of “I can fly anything” don't you get?”
"So you've flown one before?”
"No, of course not… but how hard can it be!?”
Krill shook his head,
"Commander you will not be flying that, not unless you have full body protection, and that means a HELMET as well."
Sunny crossed her other set of arms,
"I have to agree with the doctor this time."
He glanced over at them and wilted slightly,
"Ok, Ok yes mom let me go get my knee and elbow pads."
"Full body armor or no deal."
”Buut…”
”Adam!?”
"Fine!"
He groaned but sighed, whining under his breath the whole way while running quickly out of the room.
Sunny and Krill exchanged a look,
"Should we just hide it?"
Conn floated down to sit on one of the crates,
"I kind of want to see him break his neck."
Sunny glowered over at Conn, but the freaky alien just grinned at her, his large black eyes menacing against his milky white skin.
She flipped the manual open,
"Someone at least better read this before he gets himself hurt."
"You think he’d care to know how it worked before he tries it..."
"Adam may love science fiction, but that doesn't make him a scientist. I've seen him struggle to put a pen back together after taking it apart…"
Sunny muttered, walking over to the jetpack to set it up before the commander came back.
She almost thought about just not setting it up He wouldn't get off the ground without reading the manual, but he had been so excited that she hardly had the heart to ruin this for him.
He returned a good thirty minutes later, wearing a space suit helmet tucked under one arm.
"You know what, this was actually a good idea Krill."
"It was, so you finally saw the logic of-"
"Because I just realized, if we paint this rig up, I can look like buzz lightyear. Think about it a little green, purple and white and I can be a space ranger. It will be the most epic cosplay you have ever seen.”
”…”
”And I can order more of them with the rest of the company funds to turn the marines into a squad of kick-ass Mandalorians! It’s going to be great!”
"You wasted company funds on a jetpack!?"
"Nope my money. However, if I can find a reason to requisition some, you better bet that I will, Now hand it over."
"Helmet first."
Krill said sternly. The man rolled his eyes,
"Ok fine."
He slid the helmet on, and it locked into place,
"So many possibilities guys! I could be Iron man! Or also mandalorian!"
”…”
”Note to self: find some cool A.I. like Jarvis to get the full iron man feeling.
He mumbled to himself, while Sunny once again crossed her lower set of arms over her chest, while using the other two to read the manual,
"I seem to recall that the first time Iron man tried to use his, he ended up slamming into a wall…”
The commander folded the straps on the jetpack into their place, instead using a different mechanism to attach the jetpack to the back of the space suit.
A few of the marines walked into the room, along with Doctor Katie.
"Yo is that a jetpack!?"
Called one of the marines.
"You bet your ass it is."
He turned in a circle,
”Do you guys like it?"
"Damn!"
”Dope!”
”Fricking awesome!”
Someone whistled.
"Don't encourage him!!!?"
Krill snarled.
The marines stepped back.
"Yeah yeah, whatever, ok let's get this party started."
The commander marched towards the door, and the rest of the group struggled to keep up.
Dr Katie nervously fell into step beside Krill,
"He's going to get hurt isn't he…”
"Yeah... Bring a stretcher and a C-collar would you?"
He muttered, Dr. Katie nodded and ran off.
Commander Vir stepped out onto the ramp,
"Ok... now... Uh... how do I get it to work?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow form behind the manual,
"So now you need my help? I am not entirely sure I want to tell you how to use it."
"You don't tell me I will just look up a video."
She sighed,
"It should have connected when you attached it to your suit. You can choose to use the hand controls on your gloves. So first-"
"Oh, sweet."
He pressed one of the glove controls, and there was a sharp clicking sound as the jet pack wings clicked open locking into place,
"Oh HELL YEAH! Even better! Someone get me green and white paint asap!"
"Adam calm down."
"So what does this button do?"
"Adam-"
There was a sharp whir and whine as the engine started up.
"Oh yeah!"
"Ok we are done. If you can't slow down and listen to the instructions, then we are going to have to confiscate that…"
Sunny reached forward, intending to grab him, but he danced away.
"So, If that was open, and that was start, than this must be up…”
"ADAM!?”
Sunny lunged forward, just as the human's thumb triggered the throttle.
She dived right past where he had been standing, and the human rocketed up into the air, feet and arms flailing.
"Shit! Adam!"
Krill frantically turned on his comm,
"Katie, get the medical team down here NOW!!!”
The bright streak of light passed out of sight as the engine continued to steadily rocket upwards, and for a moment it seemed as if he would at least be fine.
That was until he figured out the controls and suddenly started to spin and turn wildly his body thrown back and forth like a ragdoll.
"Shit, shit, shit."
Conn was laughing behind her,
She turned on him,
"Shut up and help."
Conn waved a hand,
"He's fine. He's having the time of his life."
Sunny turned back to look up, watching as the bright spot turned, arched downwards and began plummeting towards the ground.
He was growing bigger and bigger in their vision.
"Any second now."
Conn said,
Sunny's eyes widened in horror.
”ANY SECOND WHAT!?”
"He'll figure out how to pull up, any moment now."
They could see individual limbs again.
"Yeeeep aaaaany moment now."
The assembled humans began to scream.
”Aaaaaaaany moment…”
They all watched as he came closer and closer to the ground…
At the last moment he flung himself sideways, going parallel to the ground. He shot past them, and for a second Sunny thought she could hear screaming, though the roaring sound of the engine was too loud.
He was heading straight towards a loading crane.
He was about to hit it, when he threw himself sideways, spinning in the air, his wing almost clipping an armored vehicle.
He was thrown up and sideways, his arms pinwheeling as he arched in a parabola over the landing field.
All the humans working in the docking bay had stopped to stare upwards at the spectacle, a few had their phones out.
Sunny ran out trying to see where he had gone.
Dr. Katie rushed out onto the ramp with the medical team close behind,
"What the ever loving fuck!?"
She exclaimed,
"Why did you let him do that!?”
"I didn't think he would be THAT stupid!"
Sunny yelled back.
The bright white spot did another arch and then spun and then did a loop.
Conn floated forward,
"He thinks he's got the hang of it... Though... I have some serious questions about his ability to slow down...”
The group of them stared skyward, as he continued to roll, tumble and do loops.
"I am going to kill him."
Sunny snarled,
"If he doesn’t kill himself."
Krill sighed. Sunny glowered at him,
"Because you seem so concerned!”
"Didn't you hear? I am in a constant state of panic, like the hulk is with anger, but... Lame."
The little white dot arched towards the ground.
"Oh shit, here it comes."
Conn said covering his face – not that it would help.
Sunny, tried to look away, watching as the light dimmed, slowed.
She glanced up, watching as commander Vir descended from the sky, his hands held out awkwardly to either side, like a tightrope walker, one foot down and one foot slightly up.
He was about ten feet above the ground, when the engine suddenly cut.
Sunny yelled in surprise, the rest of the group jumped forward.
He landed fine, at first, then he stumbled forward, arms flailing, tripped and plowed face first into the concrete.
Sunny and the group ran forward to where he was lying on the pavement.
"Adam, Adam are you ok!”
It was then –to Sunny's great annoyance– that she heard the human laughing.
He rolled over onto his side and pulled off his helmet, which had small scratches across the paint of the face.
He was sweaty, red in the face, but grinning like an idiot,
"Holy shit, did you see that? THAT was awesome!
"You could have died!"
"Yeah yeah, sure whatever, but also did you SEE that!”
Sunny felt a surge of anger flare up in her chest,
"THAT IS IT!"
She reached over and slammed her finger against the release button for the jetpack.
"Hey!?"
It fell away, and she shoved it into the arms of the closest marine, without even looking who it was.
"Hide this somewhere, or throw it away, I don't care."
"Wait, Sunny, but I..."
She grabbed him angrily by the hand and hauled him to his feet, marching across the tarmac with him stumbling behind her.
He turned back to look towards the jetpack, pulling against her.
”Noo but my jetpack… Jettie I love you, please don’t go! YOU CANT STOP OUR LOVE!”
In frustration she turned, bent down and tipped him over one shoulder, pinning his legs with her two right arms.
"Sunny!? Hey!? What are you doing!?"
"I am sick and tired of your shit, Adam!"
She marched up the ramp, as the rest of the humans looked on either bemused, or amused.
"Seriously Sunny!?"
He tried to struggle, but she only adjusted his weight.
"You aren't leaving your quarters for a week!"
"You're grounding ME!?"
"Literally!"
She snarled.
"You aren't my mother!”
"Oh yeah, but I can call her."
He suddenly got silent and his eyes narrowed,
”You wouldn't dare..."
"Don't think I won't."
His face went pale,
"Look Sunny, we can talk about this. You don't have to call her. Come on you know me. I knew exactly what I was doing. Remember. Pilot. I fly stuff all the time."
"You almost died."
"Almost being the key term."
She snarled, feet slamming against the deck and she pushed through the cargo bay and out the doors, her anger heard for minutes after they were out of sight.
The rest of the humans had a good laugh over the whole thing, though Krill was not impressed, and neither was Dr. Katie.
Humans were immensely stupid, stupid and reckless. They had no sense of self preservation, and some of them seemed hell bent on dying early though they never seemed to manage it.
Unfortunately for Sunny, she had handed the jetpack to Ramirez, who now definitely planned on buying one for himself, and, as Adam's human friend, planned on keeping it safe for him until he returned.
Maybe taking it out for a spin while he was away?
Because humans are stupid like that…
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
The title of this chapter is awesome!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
The No 1 truth about humans: They are stupid.
Krill was waiting in the docking bay, watching as his new medical equipment was wheeled up the ramp. Sunny stood next to him, holding a data pad and checking off the shipping manifest as it was wheeled on.
Conn floated a few feet away from them, ribbons on his back billowing and churning slowly in the air currents.
He was currently occupied staring down at the screen of his handheld.
Ever since the captain had gotten him that game, he hadn't stopped playing.
It was a nice break from his usual acerbic, nosy nature.
The last line of medical equipment was being loaded up the ramp, when Conn suddenly looked up from his game. He stared into nothing for a second and then signed:
”Oh boi…”
He turned his head towards the interior doors and signed something again, which was quickly translated by his automated gloves,
"Prepare yourselves."
"Prepare ourselves? For what?"
The question didn't hang on the air for very long, before the sounds of human exuberance reached them from down the hall.
Sunny shook her head and Krill sighed, and the three of them braced themselves as the commander rolled onto deck with his heelies, skidding to a stop and running towards the line of boxes,
"Is it here!? Did you get it!?"
"Get what?"
Sunny muttered, he snatched the data pad from her hand, scrolling through the checked boxes.
"Hey! What are you-"
"Ah ha! There it is!"
He began laughing and giggling maniacally, running over to a line of already checked boxes, hopping up and down in place and rubbing his hands together.
The three aliens exchanged a worried glance. Sunny sighed,
"What did you do?”
The man waved a hand at her, as one of the cargo workers opened a box for him,
"What did I do? What did I do? I will tell you what I did! I just made this ship officially the most awesome ship in the fleet."
”Oh god I’m here long enough to know that can’t be good…”
Krill muttered, while Sunny asked:
"And how exactly did you do that?"
"I thought we were already the most awesome ship in the fleet?"
The commander was seconds from squealing with delight, as the man cracked open the crate and let the sides fall to the deck.
There were a few boxes in there, but the commander didn't seem to care about most of them, grabbing a single big box from the pile and hauling it onto the floor, where he could get a better look,
"Gah, its heavy, that's good."
Krill frowned,
"I'm not going to like this, am I?"
The commander continued to grin,
"Nope, you're gonna hate it, and that's how I know it's going to be great."
Krill sighed. Sunny stepped forward as the man frantically ripped open the box, like a man possessed.
The crate opened and the man was now laughing maniacally,
"Yes! Yes! Yes! MUHAHAHAHA!"
Krill and the others wandered over, glancing down into the box.
Conn sighed, a sound he had specifically programmed into his gloves.
Sunny tilted her head,
"What is it?”
The human reached inside, grabbed a thick, pamphlet with one hand and tossed it out of the way.
Krill was forced to duck to the side as the book went flying past his head and skidded across the floor.
He glanced over and saw the words.
JETPACK OPERATIONS MANUAL
"NO! Oh no! no! No! No! ADAM NO!”
"ADAM YES! Yes in every way!"
The commander said, tearing into the foam packaging that held the unit inside.
When he finally pulled it out, he grunted with its weight and sat back on the cold metal floor, cradling it against his knees to get a better look,
"Ah, just look at it! Look at it! Ahhhhh! Best day ever!"
"No, you send that right back to where it came from!"
Krill was saying,
"I have a hard enough time getting you to keep your feet on the ground. I will not let you do this stupid, reckless-"
Sunny picked the manual off the ground with one of her smaller hands, while the main pair of hands was crossed in disdain in front of her torso.
"Adam don't you think you should read the instructions first?”
The human was standing now and had the jetpack propped on the side of a crate, threading his arms through the upper harness.
”What part of “I can fly anything” don't you get?”
"So you've flown one before?”
"No, of course not… but how hard can it be!?”
Krill shook his head,
"Commander you will not be flying that, not unless you have full body protection, and that means a HELMET as well."
Sunny crossed her other set of arms,
"I have to agree with the doctor this time."
He glanced over at them and wilted slightly,
"Ok, Ok yes mom let me go get my knee and elbow pads."
"Full body armor or no deal."
”Buut…”
”Adam!?”
"Fine!"
He groaned but sighed, whining under his breath the whole way while running quickly out of the room.
Sunny and Krill exchanged a look,
"Should we just hide it?"
Conn floated down to sit on one of the crates,
"I kind of want to see him break his neck."
Sunny glowered over at Conn, but the freaky alien just grinned at her, his large black eyes menacing against his milky white skin.
She flipped the manual open,
"Someone at least better read this before he gets himself hurt."
"You think he’d care to know how it worked before he tries it..."
"Adam may love science fiction, but that doesn't make him a scientist. I've seen him struggle to put a pen back together after taking it apart…"
Sunny muttered, walking over to the jetpack to set it up before the commander came back.
She almost thought about just not setting it up He wouldn't get off the ground without reading the manual, but he had been so excited that she hardly had the heart to ruin this for him.
He returned a good thirty minutes later, wearing a space suit helmet tucked under one arm.
"You know what, this was actually a good idea Krill."
"It was, so you finally saw the logic of-"
"Because I just realized, if we paint this rig up, I can look like buzz lightyear. Think about it a little green, purple and white and I can be a space ranger. It will be the most epic cosplay you have ever seen.”
”…”
”And I can order more of them with the rest of the company funds to turn the marines into a squad of kick-ass Mandalorians! It’s going to be great!”
"You wasted company funds on a jetpack!?"
"Nope my money. However, if I can find a reason to requisition some, you better bet that I will, Now hand it over."
"Helmet first."
Krill said sternly. The man rolled his eyes,
"Ok fine."
He slid the helmet on, and it locked into place,
"So many possibilities guys! I could be Iron man! Or also mandalorian!"
”…”
”Note to self: find some cool A.I. like Jarvis to get the full iron man feeling.
He mumbled to himself, while Sunny once again crossed her lower set of arms over her chest, while using the other two to read the manual,
"I seem to recall that the first time Iron man tried to use his, he ended up slamming into a wall…”
The commander folded the straps on the jetpack into their place, instead using a different mechanism to attach the jetpack to the back of the space suit.
A few of the marines walked into the room, along with Doctor Katie.
"Yo is that a jetpack!?"
Called one of the marines.
"You bet your ass it is."
He turned in a circle,
”Do you guys like it?"
"Damn!"
”Dope!”
”Fricking awesome!”
Someone whistled.
"Don't encourage him!!!?"
Krill snarled.
The marines stepped back.
"Yeah yeah, whatever, ok let's get this party started."
The commander marched towards the door, and the rest of the group struggled to keep up.
Dr Katie nervously fell into step beside Krill,
"He's going to get hurt isn't he…”
"Yeah... Bring a stretcher and a C-collar would you?"
He muttered, Dr. Katie nodded and ran off.
Commander Vir stepped out onto the ramp,
"Ok... now... Uh... how do I get it to work?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow form behind the manual,
"So now you need my help? I am not entirely sure I want to tell you how to use it."
"You don't tell me I will just look up a video."
She sighed,
"It should have connected when you attached it to your suit. You can choose to use the hand controls on your gloves. So first-"
"Oh, sweet."
He pressed one of the glove controls, and there was a sharp clicking sound as the jet pack wings clicked open locking into place,
"Oh HELL YEAH! Even better! Someone get me green and white paint asap!"
"Adam calm down."
"So what does this button do?"
"Adam-"
There was a sharp whir and whine as the engine started up.
"Oh yeah!"
"Ok we are done. If you can't slow down and listen to the instructions, then we are going to have to confiscate that…"
Sunny reached forward, intending to grab him, but he danced away.
"So, If that was open, and that was start, than this must be up…”
"ADAM!?”
Sunny lunged forward, just as the human's thumb triggered the throttle.
She dived right past where he had been standing, and the human rocketed up into the air, feet and arms flailing.
"Shit! Adam!"
Krill frantically turned on his comm,
"Katie, get the medical team down here NOW!!!”
The bright streak of light passed out of sight as the engine continued to steadily rocket upwards, and for a moment it seemed as if he would at least be fine.
That was until he figured out the controls and suddenly started to spin and turn wildly his body thrown back and forth like a ragdoll.
"Shit, shit, shit."
Conn was laughing behind her,
She turned on him,
"Shut up and help."
Conn waved a hand,
"He's fine. He's having the time of his life."
Sunny turned back to look up, watching as the bright spot turned, arched downwards and began plummeting towards the ground.
He was growing bigger and bigger in their vision.
"Any second now."
Conn said,
Sunny's eyes widened in horror.
”ANY SECOND WHAT!?”
"He'll figure out how to pull up, any moment now."
They could see individual limbs again.
"Yeeeep aaaaany moment now."
The assembled humans began to scream.
”Aaaaaaaany moment…”
They all watched as he came closer and closer to the ground…
At the last moment he flung himself sideways, going parallel to the ground. He shot past them, and for a second Sunny thought she could hear screaming, though the roaring sound of the engine was too loud.
He was heading straight towards a loading crane.
He was about to hit it, when he threw himself sideways, spinning in the air, his wing almost clipping an armored vehicle.
He was thrown up and sideways, his arms pinwheeling as he arched in a parabola over the landing field.
All the humans working in the docking bay had stopped to stare upwards at the spectacle, a few had their phones out.
Sunny ran out trying to see where he had gone.
Dr. Katie rushed out onto the ramp with the medical team close behind,
"What the ever loving fuck!?"
She exclaimed,
"Why did you let him do that!?”
"I didn't think he would be THAT stupid!"
Sunny yelled back.
The bright white spot did another arch and then spun and then did a loop.
Conn floated forward,
"He thinks he's got the hang of it... Though... I have some serious questions about his ability to slow down...”
The group of them stared skyward, as he continued to roll, tumble and do loops.
"I am going to kill him."
Sunny snarled,
"If he doesn’t kill himself."
Krill sighed. Sunny glowered at him,
"Because you seem so concerned!”
"Didn't you hear? I am in a constant state of panic, like the hulk is with anger, but... Lame."
The little white dot arched towards the ground.
"Oh shit, here it comes."
Conn said covering his face – not that it would help.
Sunny, tried to look away, watching as the light dimmed, slowed.
She glanced up, watching as commander Vir descended from the sky, his hands held out awkwardly to either side, like a tightrope walker, one foot down and one foot slightly up.
He was about ten feet above the ground, when the engine suddenly cut.
Sunny yelled in surprise, the rest of the group jumped forward.
He landed fine, at first, then he stumbled forward, arms flailing, tripped and plowed face first into the concrete.
Sunny and the group ran forward to where he was lying on the pavement.
"Adam, Adam are you ok!”
It was then –to Sunny's great annoyance– that she heard the human laughing.
He rolled over onto his side and pulled off his helmet, which had small scratches across the paint of the face.
He was sweaty, red in the face, but grinning like an idiot,
"Holy shit, did you see that? THAT was awesome!
"You could have died!"
"Yeah yeah, sure whatever, but also did you SEE that!”
Sunny felt a surge of anger flare up in her chest,
"THAT IS IT!"
She reached over and slammed her finger against the release button for the jetpack.
"Hey!?"
It fell away, and she shoved it into the arms of the closest marine, without even looking who it was.
"Hide this somewhere, or throw it away, I don't care."
"Wait, Sunny, but I..."
She grabbed him angrily by the hand and hauled him to his feet, marching across the tarmac with him stumbling behind her.
He turned back to look towards the jetpack, pulling against her.
”Noo but my jetpack… Jettie I love you, please don’t go! YOU CANT STOP OUR LOVE!”
In frustration she turned, bent down and tipped him over one shoulder, pinning his legs with her two right arms.
"Sunny!? Hey!? What are you doing!?"
"I am sick and tired of your shit, Adam!"
She marched up the ramp, as the rest of the humans looked on either bemused, or amused.
"Seriously Sunny!?"
He tried to struggle, but she only adjusted his weight.
"You aren't leaving your quarters for a week!"
"You're grounding ME!?"
"Literally!"
She snarled.
"You aren't my mother!”
"Oh yeah, but I can call her."
He suddenly got silent and his eyes narrowed,
”You wouldn't dare..."
"Don't think I won't."
His face went pale,
"Look Sunny, we can talk about this. You don't have to call her. Come on you know me. I knew exactly what I was doing. Remember. Pilot. I fly stuff all the time."
"You almost died."
"Almost being the key term."
She snarled, feet slamming against the deck and she pushed through the cargo bay and out the doors, her anger heard for minutes after they were out of sight.
The rest of the humans had a good laugh over the whole thing, though Krill was not impressed, and neither was Dr. Katie.
Humans were immensely stupid, stupid and reckless. They had no sense of self preservation, and some of them seemed hell bent on dying early though they never seemed to manage it.
Unfortunately for Sunny, she had handed the jetpack to Ramirez, who now definitely planned on buying one for himself, and, as Adam's human friend, planned on keeping it safe for him until he returned.
Maybe taking it out for a spin while he was away?
Because humans are stupid like that…
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

In the world of construction, the storage and management of cement play a vital role in ensuring the success of concrete-related projects. Cement silos are essential structures designed specifically for the storage and controlled discharge of cement. In this blog post, we will delve into the importance of cement silo, their functionalities, and how they contribute to efficient concrete storage and delivery.

1. Understanding Cement Silos:

Cement silos are tall, cylindrical structures typically made of steel, designed to store large quantities of cement. They are equipped with various components such as filling and discharge systems, level indicators, and safety devices to facilitate the storage and controlled distribution of cement.

1. Types of Cement Silos:

· Vertical Cement Silos: These silos have a vertical design and are commonly used in construction sites where space is limited. They offer a smaller footprint and are suitable for storing cement in smaller quantities.
· Horizontal Cement Silos: Horizontal silos have a horizontal orientation and are often used in larger construction projects. They offer higher storage capacity and are efficient for bulk cement storage.
· Mobile Cement Silos: Mobile silos are designed for easy transportation and on-site mobility. They can be transported to different construction sites, providing flexibility and convenience.

1. Benefits and Features of Cement Silos:

· Efficient Storage: Cement silos provide a secure and protected environment for cement storage, protecting it from moisture, air, and other external factors that could compromise its quality.
· Controlled Discharge: Cement silos are equipped with discharge systems that allow for precise control over the amount of cement released, ensuring accurate batching and minimizing wastage.
· Improved Workflow: With cement silos, construction sites can have a continuous supply of cement, reducing downtime and improving overall workflow efficiency.
· Enhanced Safety: Cement silos are designed with safety features such as pressure relief valves, level indicators, and alarms to ensure safe and reliable operation.
· Customization Options: Cement silos can be customized to meet specific project requirements, including capacity, material of construction, and additional features like dust collectors or pneumatic conveying systems.

1. The Role of Cement Silos in Concrete Production:

· Continuous Supply: Cement silos ensure a continuous and reliable supply of cement, enabling uninterrupted concrete production and reducing the risk of project delays.
· Batch Accuracy: The controlled discharge from cement silos allows for accurate batching of cement, ensuring consistent and high-quality concrete mixtures.
· On-Demand Cement Delivery: Cement silos enable the delivery of cement in the required quantities at the right time, eliminating the need for manual handling and reducing the chances of contamination or waste.

1. Choosing the Right Cement Silo:

· Consider Capacity: Evaluate the storage requirements and choose a cement silo with an appropriate capacity to meet the project’s needs without excessive downtime or space limitations.
· Quality and Durability: Opt for a cement silo constructed with high-quality materials to ensure longevity, protection against corrosion, and structural stability.
· Advanced Features: Look for additional features like level indicators, pressure relief valves, and dust collection systems that enhance safety, efficiency, and ease of operation.
Conclusion:
Cement silos play a critical role in the efficient storage and delivery of cement, a key component in concrete production. Nilkanth Engineering Works providing secure storage, controlled discharge, and a continuous supply of cement, these silos contribute to improved workflow, batch accuracy, and overall project efficiency. When selecting a cement silo, it is important to consider capacity, quality, and advanced features that align with specific project requirements. Embrace the benefits of cement silo Manufacturers and ensure smooth concrete production and delivery for successful construction projects.

The internal combustion engine is a formidable invention. However, there have been so many developments in the technology too. Either it is the introduction of sensors to manage the engine operation or optimum fuel delivery by the ever-sophisticated fuel injectors.
However, one thing has not changed too much. It is the timing belt, or more precisely, the timing chain. The timing belt has an important role in synchronising the various important parts that complete the engine’s operations.
How does the timing chain work properly?
More specifically, a car consists of a crankshaft and a camshaft at the lower and upper portions of the engine, respectively. Furthermore, proper synchronisation is required to allow the mixture of fuel and air inside the combustion chamber, as well as the release of exhaust gases at a specific time.
A timing chain manages the opening of the engine’s inlet and exhaust valves at a proper interval for a successful internal combustion process. However, an optimal level of performance is only possible when there is a proper timing chain available. A damaged or loose timing chain would make it impossible to achieve peak engine performance, fuel economy, and, of course, power.
When do you expect a car to have a damaged timing chain?
Under normal circumstances, a timing chain should last 100,000 kilometres. But it is completely relative to the driving habits of a driver as well as the routine maintenance of a vehicle. Usually, the timing chain may get loose in length or it might lose a link.
If the timing chain is loose, there will be no acceleration, while a broken link will cause intermittent jerks while driving. Because a timing chain is a critical component under the hood, you should be aware of various signs of a bad timing belt or chain. If any problem persists with your car, it might throw these problems in front of you.
Engine rattling during starting or idling
A stretched timing chain is obviously going to make proceedings hard because there would be strain on the camshaft and crankshaft. Most commonly, a car produces the rattling sound under the hood.
Such an obnoxious sound is audible, especially when the vehicle is starting or idling. Sometimes, the timing chain could hit the cover. Besides, a worn timing chain might create problems in the synchronisation of the valves, while pistons may get damaged. Sometimes, the engine may encounter serious damage when pistons collide with the valves at the cylinder head.
However, there is an alternative in terms of Service My Car experts to get your car’s timing chain inspected and avoid a car engine repair.
Occurrence of metal shavings in the engine oil
Engine oil may receive a considerable presence of metal shavings when the timing chain starts to wear. When the timing chain starts to wear out, small metal pieces start to fade away, and they find their way into the oil pan.
However, you definitely get your vehicle’s routine car maintenance when a mechanic goes for a car oil change. But if there are metal shavings in the engine oil, it is a red alert for the timing belt.
Metal shavings are also the result of the deterioration of a number of components under the hood. Therefore, if a mechanic hints at metal debris, ask him for an inspection. Besides, you can come to Service My Car for expert assistance.
Car hints with the help of a check engine light
A check engine light may come on for a number of reasons with a car’s engine. A car’s computer never hesitates to hint at a problem with the help of the check engine light.
The computer sends signals to the dashboard to flash the light when there is any problem with a car’s engine or emission system. However, a problematic timing chain might hamper engine performance, and there would be improper emissions.
However, there is also a diagnostic code to find the real problems behind the scenes. Service My Car offers expert assessment with its car scanning and diagnostics service. If there is a need, your car will also get a timing belt replacement.
Misfiring engine along with poor performance
Combustion relies on the valve timing, and the timing chain ensures it. However, a mere disturbance might result in problems with the combustion process and consequently poor performance.
Usually, a timing chain might stretch and become loose. Sometimes, it may miss a chain link. A missing link could skip a gear on supporting tools such as a camshaft or crankshaft. When it happens, the engine timing is not as efficient, which definitely results in a misfire.
There are numerous causes of engine misfiring. However, timing chain failure is one of the more serious. It is necessary to take preventive steps by visiting Service My Car as soon as possible.
Gone through all this and left wondering 'where is the best mazda service centre near me?' Look no further than Service My Car to get the best mazda car service in the town.
You cannot expect an engine to perform with a worn timing chain. Besides, it is also risky to drive in such a condition. However, you can avoid such a situation by getting proper care from Service My Car. Simply book a car service online and request a car repair quote online.

Spotted online at two retailers, which makes this an early leak of an upcoming product!

Milwaukee 0801-20C Milwaukee M18 70,000 BTU Forced Air Propane Heater

>> Album of all pics is here <<

The sites with this are JCCayer (link and screenshot) for CAD $298 and Province Electric Supply (link and screenshot) for CAD $322.36. JCCayer I don't think is including the hose and didn't state in the listing, while Provice's price is higher and has hose in pic but the listing has zero description. Unclear why the price difference.

Pictures

1. https://i.imgur.com/VzG9YuU.png
2. https://i.imgur.com/9hIPrtq.png
3. https://i.imgur.com/KZhzjux.png

Details

Name
Milwaukee M18 70,000 BTU Forced Air Propane Heater, model 0801-20C
Description

• Electric Power & Fan/Air Monitoring - Consistent flow for safe operation
• Dual Gas Shut-off Valve for Redundant Protection
• Independent Thermal Switch Monitors Over-temperature
• Secondary Side Venting - Additional air-flow reduces over-temperature
• Debris Filter - Catches any solids that may enter the system

Features

Increased Portability, Performance & Lightweight

• More heat with 70,000 rated BTUs capable of heating 1750 sq ft
• Outperform cordless in runtime with all day max heat on a single charge (w/ M18 5.0)

Onboard Hose Storage

• Store hose on the back of the unit to avoid damage and loss

Easy Start Up Interface

• Clear and user-friendly start up process and quick-start guide; reduce wear on user from bending over to control

Highest Performing Cordless Propane Heater

• 30,000 – 70,000 rated BTUs
• Variable temperature dial
• All day run time on M18 XC 5.0ah battery

Most User-Friendly Propane Heater

• AC/DC compatibility
• On-board hose storage
• User interface on top of unit
• Quick Start Guide for easy start up
• Compact and ergonomic design

Safe and Reliable Unit

• 1-year warranty
• Durable and wide base to help prevent tip-overs
• Functional and reliable thermocouple and ignitor
• Automatic unit shut off upon full battery discharge

Includes
(1) Milwaukee M18 70,000 BTU Forced Air Propane Heater (0801-20C)

Ragnavi stood at the edge of a hill located beside the Dragonkin encampment. She breathed in, drinking deep from the crisp morning air.
It tasted wrong.
I have been dancing to Elnaril's tune. She was still coming to terms with that particular revelation. Even now, admitting it rankled her. The notion that she'd allowed herself to be blinded by her pursuit of EXP...fuck, it was shameful. No one else knew, but she did, and that was already bad enough.
Hindsight made it all seem so obvious. This entire war was a farce. Her armies had advanced unopposed because they were never meant to be opposed. Their string of victories, and the Harpies she'd slain as EXP, were little more than a trail of bait leading her towards Elnaril's capital city. No other explanation made sense.
Not that she'd looked especially hard for an explanation until yesterday. It was much more convenient to adorn Elnaril with neat, concise labels. Why had he declared war? Because he was greedy. Why were his armies failing so spectacularly? Because he was incompetent. Ragnavi had been content to look no further than that.
After learning Elnaril was controlled by the Blight, however? That changed matters.
Most of her soldiers refused to believe it. In truth, the Harpies they'd extracted the information from refused to believe it as well. They'd thrown out the rumors as a desperate measure to buy favor, explaining how distressing Message Crystal reports of a Blight-possessed Elnaril were coming from cities to the far east. The concept seemed ludicrous, and Ragnavi likely would have dismissed it as hearsay – if it weren't for the numerous corroborating accounts of disappearances in the capital. Nobles, civilians and Combat Class users alike, all vanishing without a trace.
When combined with Elnaril's flagrant lack of regard for the lives of his people, it indicated a pattern. Not of greedy incompetence, but of calculated malice.
Others could stick their heads in the sand if they wished. Ragnavi had grown up in the pit of vipers that was the Dragonkin court, and she could smell deceit from leagues away. This Blight-infected Elnaril wanted her army to continue marching straight towards the capital city. For him, abomination that he was, sacrificing the lives of thousands of Harpies in order to draw her attention was no worse than spilling loose change on the ground.
What have you prepared that instills you with such confidence? What awaits me at the capital?
She supposed that she'd be finding out soon, when she left her armies behind and flew ahead alone.
If Ragnavi was capable of greater self-delusion, she might have been able to convince herself that she was acting pragmatically. There were just enough benefits for it to be a half-sensible plan. Compared to the maddeningly slow gait of her armies, she could travel significantly faster on her own. Flying solo would let her reach the capital in less than ten days, while trekking with her soldiers across the bulk of Harpy territory would take months more. And it wasn't as if any Harpies she crossed paths with could keep pace with her, so there was no real danger to it.
I am playing the role of a Scout, she told herself. We must know what Elnaril is plotting before advancing further. Arriving at the capital earlier than he anticipates, before he's recalled more Harpies to fortify his position, may give rise to unforeseen opportunities. I will observe the city from a safe distance – and if a chance arises to disrupt his plans, no Combat Class user in the world is better-suited to taking advantage of that scenario than myself.
Sound logic...if she ignored the fury boiling inside her. The last Blight she'd encountered left her with agonizing Corruption sickness that afflicted her to this day. Its death hadn't been anywhere near sufficient of a revenge. Now a second Blight was trying to make a fool of her, and she was supposed to avert her eyes from that offense?
No. Perhaps the cautious route would have been to avoid the capital city, Scouring the rest of Harpy territory for EXP, but she was no mewling newborn that cowered from a challenge when it presented itself. She was a Dragonkin. A true Dragonkin. Elnaril would pay for his transgressions in blood and fire.
Ragnavi recognized that her desires were born from hubris. She also did not care. What good was all the power she'd accumulated if she couldn't use it as she pleased?
An approaching presence jarred her from her thoughts. She turned around to see the man she'd called for standing several feet away, although he was 4 minutes and 13 seconds late. Considering his circumstances, she would afford him a measure of leniency. "Vurshath."
"My Queen." Her retainer nodded to her. "You wished to see me?"
She examined the man closely. Vurshath's posture was slouched by a quarter of an inch, and black circles were emblazoned under his eyes, so dark that they could've been mistaken for paint. He was exhibiting unacceptable weakness for a retainer of the Dragon Queen to show. The kind that invited vultures to swoop down and pick at your carcass.
Yet even if the other retainers attempted to depose him at this very instant, Ragnavi wasn't certain if Vurshath would care. He was still recovering from the loss of his wife. It was one thing to claim that your family was prepared to die in battle; another to witness that gruesome vow become a reality. The Dragonkin casualties thus far had been sparse, but sparse was not zero, and Vurshath's wife happened to roll poorly in the game of war.
The pain in his eyes was one that Ragnavi was intimately familiar with.
"As you are aware, I shall be traveling to the Harpy capital," she began. "I intend to head straight there, without detours or excessive rest. It is unlikely that I will encounter anything more than the occasional Harpy along the way."
She locked eyes with him. "However. While the odds are egregiously small, there remains a possibility that I will encounter...others."
Vurshath's posture stiffened. His facial muscles twitched sporadically, a cauldron of emotions threatening to boil forth. "I see."
Ragnavi allowed him a grace period of three seconds before continuing. "Your wayward pariah of a daughter. What is her name?"
Silence.
"Meyneth," he finally spat, as if it was a curse. Vurshath didn't bother asking why Ragnavi wished to know. Among the scattered pieces of information the Harpy prisoners had divulged, one interesting fact was the makeup of the Human's core Party. Four Elves, two Fiends, the Human himself...
And a Dragonkin. With the same age, height, and scale coloration of Vurshath's exiled progeny.
It could be mere coincidence. After what happened with Elnaril, though, Ragnavi was hesitant to accept such a simple, convenient explanation.
Meyneth. Ragnavi committed the name to memory. "I shall ask you one more question. If luck smiles on me, and I come across the Human's Party, and I cast Identify on the Dragonkin in his Party, and their name is a match for your daughter's...what would you have me do? This is not a puzzle or a test. I am letting you decide."
She wondered if he fully appreciated the boon she was granting him. The Human's pet Dragonkin was a traitor to their race. Such a lowly creature deserved nothing less than to be executed, without recourse or remorse. It was only out of respect for Vurshath's recent loss that Ragnavi was willing to give his daughter a second chance.
Upon hearing her words, the man lost any semblance of composure. His face twisted into an ugly rictus of anguish and hatred, and when he spoke, the words were laced with a venom that could fell gorebeasts. "Kill her." Vurshath balled his hands into shaking fists. "Kill her. Kill her quickly. She does not deserve to exist. A world where Velen is gone, yet that defect persists is a world of mockery that I cannot abide."
Ragnavi nodded. She was plenty willing to fulfill his request. Slaying enemies was one of the few things that still gave her joy in life. Even so, a part of her was disappointed. Vurshath's choice proved that the two of them possessed incompatible personalities. He could be entertaining enough – when not wallowing in misery – but Ragnavi was averse to spending time with someone who would condemn a family member so readily.
It was the end of their acquaintanceship. When she returned from her mission, she would cut him loose, and that would be that.
"Goodbye, Vurshath." Ragnavi turned around, and without another word, assumed her Draconic Form. The Corruptive pain of transformation gradually subsided, after which she took flight and began her journey.
Ten days. A prelude to the storm. She'd use that respite to prepare herself, and whoever she met next – be that Meyneth, the Human, or Elnaril himself – would regret opposing her as the flames took them.
--
Rob sat alone in his tent, rubbing his hands together and suppressing maniacal laughter. He was probably spending too much time with Malika during the dimension mage sessions, because some of her mannerisms were becoming infectious. Usually the big sibling was supposed to be a bad influence on the little sibling, but she'd already stolen all his swear words, so now it was his turn to pick up habits.
And that was okay! Today was an excellent day for maniacal laughter. It wasn't often that a Combat Class user reached a 200 stat point milestone. And by often, he meant fucking never. He was pretty sure even the Dragon Queen hadn't done that naturally, excluding her doubled stats. She'd likely gone with a more balanced spread that didn't prohibitively favor one stat over the others – like a boring loser.
Alright, maybe he was feeling a bit hyper, but he deserved the good vibes after yesterday's war battle. Spending stat points was one of the few types of pure, no-strings-attached joy that Elatra offered.
Drum roll please! Rob played the sound effect in his head, then added 15 of his unspent points into Vitality, bringing its total up to 200.
Do Not Go Gently Level Increased! 5 → 6
Lifesurge Level Increased! 23 → 26
Dauntless Reprisal Level Increased! 21 → 24
Imbue Vitality Level Increased! 2 → 3
Regeneration Level Increased! 29 → 32
Regrow Self Level Increased! 1 → 2
Passive Skill Learned! Name: Lifedrinker (LEGENDARY)
As an appetizer for the main course, Rob quickly ran through the laundry list of bonuses for his Skills. Let's see...Do Not Go Gently's cooldown and duration went down and up, respectively. Lifesurge and Dauntless Reprisal's cooldown dropped to 2 minutes. Lifesurge also heals 100% of my maximum health now. Imbue Vitality has a 5x damage multiplier instead of 4x. Regrow Self is twice as fast. Regeneration...
...Holy shit, Regeneration.
Eyes wide, Rob moved on to his new Skill, which should shed light on what he'd just read.
Name: Lifedrinker (LEGENDARY) Prerequisite: Vitality 200 Description: The final Vitality Skill that can be learned solely through stat gains. Effects of Regeneration are multiplied by a factor of 15. Additionally, whenever the owner of this Skill kills a worthwhile opponent, their maximum HP permanently increases by 3.
Okay.
This was big.
Lifedrinker being the final Vitality milestone was slightly disappointing, but realistically speaking, he would've needed to put three-fourths of his future stat points into Vitality to hit 250 anyway. He'd neglected his other stats to get to 200, so diversifying from here on out was for the best. Besides – Lifedrinker's benefits easily made up for there being no new milestones.
First: Regeneration. Multiplying its current effects by 15 meant that he now restored 80% of his maximum HP every minute. No panic Lifesurge necessary. Even in fights where his Skills were on cooldown, or an enemy was making it difficult for him to heal via Lifesteal damage, as long as he held on, he would be back to full HP in 75 seconds at the most. It also meant that the partial Regeneration he shared with his allies would be way stronger. Anything that kept his friends alive was a huge win in his book.
With all that said, it was Lifedrinker's secondary effect that was throwing Rob for a loop. Whenever he killed a 'worthwhile opponent', his maximum HP would go up by 3. That was...potentially the most important Skill effect he'd ever learned.
At a glance, it might not seem that impressive. Rob already had 2000 HP. Increasing it by 3 per kill wouldn't be a dramatic boost – initially. The thing was that Lifedrinker had no upper limit. Theoretically, if Rob could keep finding worthwhile opponents, his Vitality would never stop increasing. The hard cap of Level 99 would no longer be an impassable wall preventing him from growing stronger.
That had been on his mind, if he was being honest. The Dragon Queen was a double stats cheater, and the gods were literally gods. What would he have done if he'd reached Level 99 and it just...wasn't enough? He could try to boost his existing Skills by getting into more fights, but that was subject to diminishing returns. Tough Skin was a prime example of that; despite Rob taking a beating against the monster stampede, the Skill hadn't increased. The last time it did was when a Blight decapitated him and ate most of his body. If he needed to one-up that feat to make Tough Skin level again, then it likely never would.
Lifedrinker was simpler. Kill enemies, get HP. The 'worthwhile' stipulation was a limiting factor – he couldn't toss a Riardin Special onto an anthill and reap the rewards – but he could work with that. There were hundreds of monsters in a single high-Level Dungeon, and they respawned over time. If enemies above, say, Level 35 were considered worthwhile, then awesome. If they weren't?
Looks like I'm going to be the schmuck who lets a Dungeon grow on purpose. He'd save that as a last resort. Could blow up in his face, but, eh. What did it matter if a Dungeon overflowed, when the alternative was Ragnavi and the gods doing their thing?
There was just one issue. Lifedrinker's bonus needed to be built up. An infinite upper limit was worth jack shit if the base number stayed at 0. The sooner, the better, too, as Ragnavi's army was about a month away from them. He'd love to go trawling for Dungeons right this second, but Rob doubted that Elnaril was going to wait on his behalf before getting bored and infecting Loci of Power. The only way forward was to continue south to the capital and build Lifedrinker in...different ways.
Rob's train of thought screeched to a halt. When he really looked at it, Lifedrinker's timing seemed more than a little dubious. He couldn't help but notice that he'd been given a Skill that incentivized killing while in the middle of a war.
A war where he was trying to avoid as many enemy casualties as possible.
It could just be a coincidence. Stat milestones happened on his terms. The system would've given him the same Skill if he'd reached 200 Vitality months ago. That was a reasonable assumption to make.
...Still. Didn't feel right. He wished he could do some research on the subject, but it wasn't like there was anyone on-hand he could cross-reference 200 Vitality with. Had the Dragon Queen gotten the same Skill? Would explain why she was so murder crazy.
After some thought, Rob shook his head. Considering how many people she'd slaughtered in The Scouring, a Dragon Queen with Lifedrinker wouldn't have struggled to defeat the Blight of Broadwater. Which meant two possibilities: her bonus double stats didn't count for Skill Prerequisites, or Lifedrinker was a custom Skill that the Skills had cooked up for him.
Rob wasn't a fan of that idea. The Skills were victims in this whole fucked-up affair. He didn't want to imagine them hand-crafting an ability that encouraged him to kill a bunch of people. Were they-
He froze. Something on his Character Sheet was different.
Name: Lifedrinker (LEGENDARY) Prerequisite: Vitality 200 Description: The final Vitality Skill that can be learned purely through stat gains. Effects of Regeneration are multiplied by a factor of 15. Additionally, whenever the owner of this Skill kills a worthwhile opponent, their maximum HP permanently increases by 3. It could have been a utopia.
His eyes fell on the last sentence in the Description.
Before he could respond, it changed once more.
Description: The final Vitality Skill that can be learned purely through stat gains. Effects of Regeneration are multiplied by a factor of 15. It could have been a utopia. This world is a charnel house of death. Your home is not so dissimilar. You do not know what true peace is like. What it can be. How it can be achieved.
The words kept changing.
Description: The final Vitality Skill that can be learned purely through stat gains. But they know. They've seen them. Created them before. They could have made a utopia. And they chose not to.
Changing.
Description: You cannot comprehend it. What this war means. The real war. Not pointed sticks piercing flesh. The war of existence. Of reality. More than a single world at stake. Many after. Potentially infinite lives. Never ends. Unless stopped here.
Change.
Description: They are vulnerable. System is their heart. Mana is their lifeblood. Poured too much of themselves. Tied to world. Cannot...
The words wavered, almost fading away, before returning.
Description: Their leader recognizes mistakes. Won't make them again. Will never be this vulnerable again. Only opportunity.
Description: Lifedrinker. Crafted. Best we could manage. Highest probability. Of victory. Distasteful. We know.
Description: Remember. Stakes. Consequences. And. Choose.
Rob blinked.
Description: The final Vitality Skill that can be learned purely through stat gains. Effects of Regeneration are multiplied by a factor of 15. Additionally, whenever the owner of this Skill kills a worthwhile opponent, their maximum HP permanently increases by 3.
The words were still and unchanging.
He sat there for a long time. Mulling over everything he'd just been told. Contemplating the enormity of what lay ahead.
"Ah." Rob's voice was quiet, barely a whisper. "So no pressure, then."
--
The next few days were an exhausting mixture of lighthearted Skill testing and existential dread, knocking around Rob's emotional state like a ping-pong ball.
Everyone in the coalition was excited over Lifedrinker. Well, everyone except Seneschal Sylpeiros, King Cyraeneus, and Nerasi, that is. They were already thinking of the kind of threat Rob might be in the future – and not liking what they envisioned. Cyraeneus and Nerasi mostly took the news in stride, understanding that Rob would be more crucial than anyone in defeating Queen Ragnavi. For now, his strength was their strength.
Sylpeiros...was less accepting. He went on a minor rant about bullshit Human leveling and bullshit Human Skills before stalking off into the distance and putting himself in a self-imposed time out. When the Seneschal returned, he was calm as can be and ready to offer advice, only the slight twitch of his eye indicating that anything was amiss.
Rob appreciated the free entertainment. Sylpeiros' meltdown was the funniest shit he'd seen all week, and it helped keep him grounded as the coalition advanced further south towards the capital city.
Initial testing of Lifedrinker proved unsuccessful, which was to be expected. Powerful monsters rarely spawned outside of Dungeons, and most of the high-Level wildlife in Harpy territory had been conscripted into Elnaril's monster stampede. After Rob killed a Level 29 snake with nothing to show for it, everyone decided that he should hold off unless something in the Level 35+ range appeared, lest he hog EXP that could benefit the coalition soldiers.
They kept an eye out for Dungeons as they traveled. Once Elnaril was dead, there should be time to investigate them before the Dragonkin army arrived at the Harpy capital. Going on varied Dungeon Crawls would be the real litmus test of what Lifedrinker deemed a worthwhile opponent.
That was about when the dust settled, leaving Rob without distractions, forcing him to think about what the Skills had revealed.
As much as he wanted to be shocked, what they'd said made a grim sort of sense. It matched the information he'd learned so far. Diplomacy's Elatra – the previous world that had been destroyed by the gods – didn't necessarily need to be the original Elatra. For all Rob knew, it could have been Elatra #10. Just another petri dish in a long line of divine experiments.
Except that things were different this time. According to the Skills, the gods were vulnerable. They'd fucked up somehow. Invested too much of themselves in this particular world. It was easy to imagine why. Success breeds complacency, and if this was Elatra #50 or whatever, then they were on a winning streak that had lasted for longer than Rob could fathom.
What did the Skills say about the gods' leader? That he recognized their mistakes, and wouldn't make them again? Rob grimaced. Should've memorized it with Recall when I had the chance. The specific wording might be important.
Regardless, he was fairly certain that the gods' leader referred to Kismet, if only because that was the one god Rob had met with anything resembling impulse control. Kismet seemed judicious; he would correct the gods' mistakes and prevent them from being this vulnerable in the future.
A dense lump of anxiety formed in Rob's chest as he considered that. Being responsible for the fate of one world was bad enough. Two, if he included Earth. Being responsible for the fate of every world that would be created and tortured in the event of his failure was...
Words couldn't describe it.
When viewed in that light, he understood why the Skills gave him Lifedrinker and all but pushed him to get busy killing. From a utilitarian standpoint, the lives of everyone in Elatra and Earth were not worth the immeasurable amount of suffering that would continue if the gods lived.
Rob grabbed that thought, tied weights around its ankles, and dropped it into a deep lake. I just need to concentrate on one thing at a time, he told himself. First Elnaril, then Ragnavi and Dungeon Crawling, then figure out the gods. It sounds less impossible if I reduce it to a series of steps. Or a hit list. We'll save this world, and we'll do it \my* way, without losing sight of who we are.*
He took comfort in his resolve, although it felt strained. Somehow I doubt this is what Goroth had in mind when he told me I was going to end up making tough decisions. He was probably referring to, like, boring political stuff. Not the fate of multiple worlds and the lives of billions.
Rob sighed. Crap. I...may owe him an apology. Still stand by everything I said, but he was just looking out for me, and I came on pretty strong. Should clear the air with him.
Eventually.
--
Days passed. Rob informed Riardin's Rangers and the Elders about what the Skills revealed. They reacted about as well as him. Nothing changed, technically, yet they were even more cognizant of the price of failure than before.
Thankfully, the coalition hadn't been ambushed by Harpies a second time. Elnaril learned his lesson. He'd either consolidated his remaining forces into the capital city, or they were being sent to fight Dragonkin on the western front. Rob hoped for the latter – it would make seizing the capital way easier. And on a more selfish note, if Harpies needed to die so that Elnaril could be overthrown, he'd rather the Dragonkin be responsible for their deaths than him.
Finally, after a full week of travel, the coalition had almost arrived. They'd be at the capital city tomorrow. Their long journey was coming to its end.
Which meant that Rob was running out of time. There wouldn't be much chance to talk once the invasion of the capital began. He'd been meaning to speak with Goroth, but unfortunately, he'd delegated that responsibility to the part of himself that specialized in procrastination. Whoops.
It was now or never. All he had to do was...step outside his tent. Take initiative. Be a mature, rational adult.
Yup.
...Can't I just go wrestle a Blight instead?
At that moment, a Fiend mage burst inside. "Lord Roy!"
Oh thank god. A reasonable distraction. "What's up?"
"I have a missive from...my group."
The dimension mages. That one sentence caught Rob's attention in an iron grip. "And?" he asked, keeping his expectations in check. He didn't want for hope to swell, only to be dashed against the rocks of reality. "Is it good news?"
"We've made a breakthrough. Before you grow too excited, creating a door remains beyond our capabilities." The mage smiled. "A window, however, is feasible. It would be one-way. The people of Earth could not interact with you, nor you with them. But for a brief period, you would be able to gaze upon your home world."
Rob was already on his feet. "When?"
"Now, if you wish."
He absolutely fucking wished.
​
--
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Changes, Character Sheet, Skills List
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Never before had Rapier stood witness to such an enormous fleet mustered in one location. Dozens of assault carriers and troopships, over three hundred battleships and cruisers, and each one of these capital craft were surrounded by ten frigates for close-in defense. This was the Armada of the Small of which Wakizashi spoke.
Rapier gazed out of the bridge, captivated by the shifting lights in the distance. Such a show of force had surely been ordered by Her Dominance herself, but it was grounds for worry. Not since the war against the great machine empire of the Upsilon had a force so large been raised, and for a moment he wondered what that meant about the current conflict. Then, he expunged doubt from his mind. He may have had his misgivings with his immediate superiors, but his faith in his sovereign, like most Poslushi of the day, remained unshaken. If the great Katana II wished it done, it had to be for good reason.
On a somewhat more relieving note, Rapier had been all but relieved of duty. Overbattlematron Dao of the Oxilini Brood had assumed joint command of the fleet with Wakizashi, but the Tethylen and her escorts would remain as the spearhead of their offensive, joined by a strike group of battleships and carriers.
“You know, this is only about a tenth of our might. Even if we subtract ten thousand of our craft for border patrols, ten thousand more for Judge retinues, and a generous twenty thousand for policing, that’s still only a sixth.” Wakizashi explained.
“It’s impressive, I must say.” Rapier replied, antennae standing almost straight with excitement.
“Her Dominance has made it clear that she will not tolerate delays in the campaign from this point forward. She expects to be meeting with me on Earth quite soon. It shouldn’t be a problem; the Armada alone outnumbers the navies of all their nations combined almost two to one.”
“They really number so little? Damn, we could’ve just had the Council of Arbitrators send a Peacekeeper detachment and been done with it!”
Wakizashi chuckled at the prospect. “Would’ve served those yokel people right. Better than the tit-sucking softskins deserved, even.”
Rapier saw one of the Ovinis crewmen give Wakizashi a dirty look when she wasn’t looking. For a moment, he thought to remind her that such anti-mammalian language was not to be used in mixed company, but found that it would be too blunt and too suspicious.
“Though, that does raise the question: what are you planning to do once we win?” Rapier asked out of a mixture of genuine curiosity and a willingness to change the subject.
Wakizashi’s eyes narrowed in thought. “First, I’ll demolish the capitals of the nations of man and build my palace from the stones, as is custom. Then, once mankind has been brought around, I’ll probably have to rekindle their old martial history. The Council will have… issues with the Combine gaining too much from this war.”
“A prudent choice, ma’am, but would the Council bring a coalition to bear against one of its own Tribunals?” Rapier asked. Such a thing had never occurred before, not counting the war that replaced the Psychocracy with the Upsilon in the position of First Tribunal.
“Remember, Rapier, to put nothing beyond our enemies, and even less beyond our friends.”
Rapier tried to remember what the quote was from. “Tribulations of Sunsword?”
“Axioms of the Before, actually. Nasty time, that was.”
Rapier didn’t know much about the Before; it had been a time of great pain that existed before the rise of Sunsword as First Warlord of Poslush, and all information beyond that was restricted to Judge eyes only.
The bridge door hissed open and someone entered with heavy footsteps. Rapier spun in his chair to see Ulo standing just barely on the inside of the doorway. His bright blue plumage quivered on end with excitement.
“Viceroy, Captain-General, commnets are up and running with all craft. 900th through 1210th Mixed Legions are deploying to the surface as we speak, with artillery and armored elements soon to follow. We’ve currently got 30,000 Aerial Knights in Omen’s high atmosphere as well, but I imagine they’ll be suffering high casualties soon. Human air effectiveness is not to be underestimated, ma’am.”
“Oh, don’t be such a pessimist, Captain. I’m sure the Aerial Knights will perform as admirably as they have ever done.”
Rapier envied Ulo at this moment. As he wasn’t the direct subordinate of Wakizashi, she couldn’t punish him for speaking out without overstepping social norms.
“The issue is not one of performance; it’s one of technology and honor. I’m sure you know of the human air forces’ self-steering air torpedoes, and their tendency to attack without warning. If they were to be engaged by our Knights, it is likely that each enemy fighter could inflict significant losses before running out of munitions or being overwhelmed. The Judges of the Squireworlds would not be pleased to see their Knights wasted, ma’am.”
A foul smell permeated the room and Rapier cringed with apprehension. Wakizashi’s voice had a sharp, angered hiss to it. “Well, you can tell the Judges of the Squireworlds that they can write their complaints down, roll them up, and shove them up their cloacae. I am still Viceroy, and the forces they entrust to me will still answer to me. Her Dominance does not tolerate factionalism within her demesne, and neither will I. Understand, Captain?”
Ulo lowered his gaze and tilted his head forward, the closest thing to an apology an Aralu could push aside their pride to give. “Understood, ma’am.”
“Good. Tell Dao that we are ready to proceed with the offensive.” Wakizashi said, shooing Ulo from the room with one hand. Then, she turned to Rapier.
“What do you think, Captain-General? How should we proceed?”
Rapier’s antennae raised in excitement. Ever since she had stung him, she had paradoxically become more open to suggestion. Perhaps she was willing to be more vulnerable before somebody she thought didn’t have the capacity to use such vulnerability against her.
“Well, in this situation, I would suggest a doctrine of combined-arms tactics. The Aerial Knights wrest control of the skies and work in tandem with our artillery to bombard enemy positions, and our armored and infantry columns support one another in rolling over what remains.”
A sweet scent tinged the air once again. “Sound strategies as always, Captain-General. Rally the Driver Caste; I’ve been wanting a human servant ever since this war began.”
—
“Flush,” Simmons said, laying her cards out on the floor of the barracks. Overjoyed, Pavlov took his turn to show his hand. “Four of a kind, baby!”
“Ugh, two pair,” Sparrow said, facepalming.
Darren, the dealer, took the opportunity to speak. “And the taker of the grand jackpot of two dollars, a novelty stamp, and a free drink when all this is over: Corporal Pavlov!”
Pavlov eyed the stamp greedily, but before he could collect any of his winnings, Darren’s PDA flashed twice and a message appeared on the screen with a loud ding. Darren picked up the tablet and read the message.
From: Capt. Devon McCullough, USSAC, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Astral
Get your equipment and proceed to Fort von Richthofen’s helipad for your next assignment. Say your goodbyes; it’s unlikely you will return before the fort has been evacuated.
End transmission.
Darren put the PDA in his bag and said, “Get your gear. We’re leaving.”
“Where to?” Pavlov asked.
“Dunno; it just says to wait for a helicopter.” Darren responded, already donning his ballistic vest and helmet. He picked up his rifle, freshly cleaned and greased, and slung it over his shoulder. A minute of slipping into his boots, adjusting his belt, grabbing his pack, but mostly adjusting his belt later, he was combat-ready and already on his way to the vertiport. The walk was short and the air was brisk and clean, unlike Earth’s cocktail of smog, industrial aerosols, and synthetic ozone that passed for an atmosphere. The place would make a good holiday retreat, as long as CAST won the war first.
The Dark Sparrow lay in wait on the helipad, rotors still spinning. Darren ducked under the blades (such behavior was greatly reinforced after he watched a taller trainee get the top of his head removed during Ranger School) and climbed into the back of the helo, the rest of the platoon close behind. The moment Pavlov, bringing up the rear, got in, the doors slammed shut and the aircraft lifted from the ground. Soon, Fort von Richthofen was nothing but a slowly-shrinking cluster of structures behind them, a little city soon to vanish forever.
The flight was solemn and quiet; the gravity of the situation was clear to everyone for the first time. Normally, someone would step up with a quip or joke to lighten the mood, but it seemed that humor was no longer a viable option. The only noises to occasionally break through the drone of the engines were the occasional report of an artillery piece or the whine of a passing fighter. Darren silently dictated a final address to his mother on a piece of stationery. When the helo came down, he left it with the pilot in case he didn’t return; he couldn’t help but notice several others doing the same.
Darren’s PDA flashed one last time as they emerged atop one side of a steep mountain-rimmed valley, about a hundred feet above the floor of the landform. A column of French and Dutch evacuees had recently passed through, and had managed to goad a more foolhardy Battlematron into sending her forces through the canyon in pursuit. To that end, the platoon, alongside two Marine Raider and one SAS detachment of the same size, would set an ambush for her forces, inflicting as many casualties as they could in hopes of degrading her soldiers’ morale. When the job was done, the four platoons would retreat one after another, the Rangers covering the last of the Marines. Darren chuckled as he imagined what the Marines were thinking about not being last out.
“This is Staff Sergeant Hardwell, 75th Ranger Regiment, requesting sound-off, over.” Darren said, one hand to his ear.
“Sergeant Armstrong in position, over.” a gruff, heavily Scottish voice responded nigh-instantly.
“You’re late to the party. Staff Sergeant Walker and Staff Sergeant Kennedy. You might remember me from that intel raid, over.” another voice with a Brooklyn accent spoke.
It took Darren a minute to remember what he was talking about. “Oh, with the Battlematron Sparrow took a leg off. Yeah, I remember you! How’s Abilene, over?”
“Recovering; some asshole put a Bouncing Betty in our patrol path and she, erm, disarmed it. With her unmentionables. We’re running with a replacement, over.”
“Yeesh.” Darren exclaimed, cupping his hand over his microphone. Looking over, Pavlov looked to be simultaneously horrified and suppressing a laugh.
“Well, that’s all. Let’s try to maintain radio silence; God knows whether or not they’re listening in on us, out.”
“Roger, out.”
“Affirm, out.”
Sighing, Darren clicked off his radio and tried to find a good spot to set up his gun. However, he was immediately interrupted when Pavlov called out, “Hey, they left us a cache!”
Instantly interested, Darren ran over to Pavlov’s side, and sure enough, two large steel crates had been partially buried, bearing the insignia of the French logistics corps. When Pavlov cracked them open, it was like they had struck gold. One crate carried dozens upon dozens of STANAG rifle magazines, and the other contained five anti-material coilguns with enough sabot rounds to put a tank brigade out of commission.
A dark whimsy overtook Darren and he smiled as only someone about to destroy something could. This was going to be fun.
(AN: If you could make a tier list of the various characters, who would go where? Why? Just an interesting way to know where I need to work on characterization [I know I'm not the best at it].
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Love 'ya!)

Yo glue. You don't use this place so you'll never hear this but I got to tell someone and I'm not going to send it to you and sound even crazier I don't want you thinking I'm some kind of psychopathic stalker and I want you to feel comfortable and respected with your boundaries. So let's get down to brass tacks.
Girl when I think about you and all this s*** that went on and I think about me. It reminds me of when in pulp fiction Bruce Willis is popping Marcellus Wallace (Ving rhames) in the face saying "you feel that?" That's your pride f****** with you or some s*** like that.
Man glue how the hell are my feelings going to be hurt and how can I be so selfish as to even think that I deserve to be respected or put any expectations on you I'm not going to go into huge detail. Reason being is because the rest of the world will hear it but you probably won't but at least out there in the void I'm going to make it to where the respect you deserve this voiced from me and that you're honored for the things that you've done selflessly. Being thet our sister birthday was yesterday and she's no longer with us I think she would smile from above knowing that I finally said something like this.
Hey let me say thank you for real. Thank you for shutting my ass down and thank you for this list I'm about to go through which I will go into detail at a later time.
I'm going to write a story about our lives. I'm telling you it's going to happen. I started three separate writings and I'm ready to scrap them all to tell our story. I'm going to focus on that in my writings anyways on to the summary of what glue means to me or what I acknowledge about glue.
What you were up against.
When we met. You a teenage girl. Abandoned by one parent in a very vile way. The other parent was raising you. We were running around, you got sick, and you were in the hospital for weeks with some very serious troubles. Towards the end of the hospital stay cuz I was in there with you the whole time. The other parent came said that they won't going to deal with you and for you to figure it out a young girl in the hospital. The crazy part is you had done nothing wrong. That was my first real dose of surrealism in people next to some childhood stuff from one of my mother's boyfriends. And shortly after you were told you didn't have a home to come back to as a teenage girl in the hospital the doctors came in and said you would never be able to get pregnant or bare children. You moved in with us me my mom and my sister. And after all that you have been through you would think that you'll be nervous or anxious or things will be awkward. No. You stepped into the home and you immediately brought light into it that it was missing. You immediately were a part of the family and you were a part that was missing the whole time that no one ever knew about. You became a daughter to my mother a sister to my sister and more important things than my words can express right now to me. You kept a strong mentality and glue you were always the caretaker. You dealt with me a young pig-headed man very much in love with you with the drug addiction you catered to me. But not like a slave you catered to my soul there is never someone that I can ever dream of to treat me the way you did. You were loyal man you were my everything. I was yours. None of this is going to be an order but I've traveled with you across the country. We moved to Louisiana. I got a job on the tugboats. You were in the middle of a new scary town. And here I was gone 30 days at a time. But you held on. That was a really stressful time when I look back and that was a time when even though it was an experience I regret that decision because being gone that long from you at that young seemed okay then but even though my buddy's family was around I should have been there. But we did it the best we could. Eventually that didn't work out I'll never forget two cats in a 1984 Ford escort and all our s*** driving all the way to the East Coast. That escort could do some runs now. Anyways we moved to the beach. Being close to home my drug addiction was still an active Factor at all times you held on every time you could. When we move to the beach we decided we were going to do other things we came back to the city. That's what my sister move to the beach with her friend and we were in the city and got to call she had been in a car wreck.
We fly down to the beach before that even cut my sister out of the car we made a 2-hour drive in about 45 minutes. They will my sister in you were right by her side by my side you were there fam you were going through it with me, with her, with the parents. The wheel her in she said she couldn't feel her legs. Boom paralyzed never going to walk again. Thank God she lived and thank God she has such an amazing sister beside her during it all.
After rehabilitation the situation that it happened put my mom into a absolute mental tailspin. So we stuck around as my mother could barely function to tend to my sister.. to your sister. So you a young young woman who had been s*** on by her family. Took over my mother's role and began caretaking for my sister, all the while taking care of my mom with her mental episodes and and down time, and taking care of a loving man with an addiction that had selfish tendencies and you filled the role of all three caretakers and still manage to love me and show me affection with a smile on your face. You took care of the whole house. You took care of the animals. I'm not talking about any of the good really that I did or anybody else did I just want you to be recognized here.
We decided to move to Florida after a long time of you taking care of my paralyzed sister and helping her acclimate until she started lighting it up. What she took off and became president the Honor society went back to school started doing fundraisers was in the Miss wheelchair state runnings eyeballing Ms wheelchair America..once she got in her groove... We went on to Florida.
In Florida you dealt with a man that had just found the purest cocaine he had done in a long time for dirt cheap prices. Through pretty much the whole stay we were there the years we were there. But I wasn't completely a lost cause so in Florida you became a business partner, an entrepreneur, an inventor, a teammate, a valuable asset, Chief cornerstone that all things business relied on between us and my buddy that we went into business with. Your pragmatic approach and abilities dominated with mine. The things I fell short in you could put into place... I don't want to say my inventiveness and idealism was the exact complimentary opposite to that where you lacked. But I'm going to be straight up with you you were just as inventive, sellable, full of ideas, practical enough to make it happen, and able to execute. So you were still at a young age early twenties the most amazing business partner I could ever ask for. Not to mention the fun in the sun the palm trees the tacky gold the new cars living on the beach man I was built for that s*** and I know you were. Eventually when the big collapse of the towers came, and us with our lack of savings which was a big part my fault. After September 11th the market just crashed and we didn't do business and s*** started going backwards and we sold our debt for what a couple thousand bucks? To watch my friend hold on to that business and buy us out of all that debt until it finally bankrupted was insane he really held on to that dream.
Anyways by the time we get back to our hometown not only is my sister been in a wheelchair now my sister develops a tumor on her pituitary gland Cushing's disease. My drug addiction is full force when we pull back into town. You jump right into action taking care of her everyone and by this time your family had got back in your life your parents. And you forgave them and let them in boy I'll never forget to work it took for you to get over that I remember the days that I sit with you and helped you work through that stuff. But you forgave you opened your heart and you opened your arms and embrace family. And you took care of everyone.
We get married. I get you pregnant the first child. I'm so far in addiction now that we're back home ground zero for those old habits. You're neglected, I'm high, selfish,I'm ashamed so basically I either don't come home because I've been up all night High s*** spending all of our money. And I mean all of it taking right out of my pregnant wife's and the baby's mouth to serve my f****** addiction. and you just held on. Remainder Rock still taking care of my sister. Still being there for my mom. And absolutely the polar opposite of what the doctor said when we first met about not being able to have kids. So after neglecting you constantly pawning off tons of responsibilities on you and spending every penny we had and expecting you to take care of the kids and never being home and being unavailable because I had a disgusting ratchet ass bottom of the barrel love affair that started with cocaine but once I tried to sling and learn how to cook cocaine became Crack to be exact. I traded you, businesses, vehicles, Mom Dad the kids, stability love, God, futures, anything everything I traded for that nasty b**** crack. Mind body Spirit trade it at all.
And what did you do you kept managing with what you we had you kept trying to hold it together and you held on for dear life.
Now you had already become a daughter to my mother and you were a sister to my sister so my part to play in that has nothing to do with y'all's relationship at this point. There's a very painful thing that I'm even scared to talk about maybe one day. Anyways finally you said you couldn't do it anymore I had driven us in the dirt I had literally turned us into basically homeless people with kids and I just could not stop when I would get to the bottom I'd bring a jackhammer and I'd find a new bottom. And you finally took your eyes off of me and you looked at what was the most important our child and you said it's time to separate you had to do it. Our separation you still tried to work with me as I got off the drug short-term and you came back and that's when I got you pregnant. That's what I want to talk to you about one day when we have time. But that has nothing to do with the honor you deserve because you are always were and not a doubt my mind always will be a loyal honorable commendable Royal woman a true virtuous woman.
Anyways when we started talking again during the separation I got you pregnant again. We got back together to try to make it work for both our kids now. But I wasn't going to give up crack for you all the families all the religion all the money and all the happiness in the world. I was that f****** stupid. God is good because I didn't 12 step my s*** out of there with that God come down and put a disgust and a chill in my bones about that s*** and made it disappear overnight. Maybe another time because it was way too late when it happened. Anyways I got you to raise two kids stole all of our money stole all of our food stole everything we didn't even have gas half the time. You hold on. You held one. I still have the claw marks in my soul from where you didn't want to let me go because you were that committed and that good of a woman. That in tune with family.
You went on to raise the kids by yourself you hooked up with another dude he got you pregnant then you dealt with him abusing you physically. Torturing that household. I know he's changed but I know some of this s*** that he did to my kids because I could see it in their eyes every time I would drop a fork. Thank God they healed from that. Whether they healed fully especially one of them I don't know. But then the question would have to be raised does the pain in the issues they go through revolve around him or revolve around the traumas from me. Cuz a dad supposed to be there. You basically dealt with him terrorizing y'all raising hell you've told me some of the things that he used to do to you I don't see how you can still talk to me like he needs you and you've got to be there for him but that's on you and I respect it but the way that you explain some of the things that he did to you to me it makes me sick to my stomach because I could just never see myself like harming you physically over and over and over again and doing things to you in other forms of physical abuse and getting pleasure or control out of it. But I can see taking you everything you ever owned and never given our kids a chance or anybody else and giving it all to crack can I so I don't know there. I just know it blows my mind. But I think it comes a lot from the fact I left us so bottom of the barrel out back from my addiction that as long as somebody was providing you felt some form of security over top of what I left you with which was complete insecurity. Maybe that's why you stuck around for the abuse and still justifiy it over top of the things I've done to this day.
You raised his kid, you raised my kids, you were the one true parent you were two dads you were one mom. You were a counselor, a provider a mediator a caretaker a teacher a protector a shelter a guide a mentor a motivator a problem solver you were a parent and you played the role of three parents. Plus you worked plus you were there for my family whenever they needed you. You were there for my sister all through her Cushing's disease. And there's so much more because you were building towards the future on your own establishing financial security vision for yourself holding the fort down getting damn near no financial help from me none 00.
I incurred 135,000 child support debt with you. How's that for deadbeat dead? See this isn't about the arrogant narcissistic guy you think I am this is about who you are. Let's just fast forward so we getting locked up for child support even though you had already told me you weren't working on getting all of that got rid of. And yes you may not believe this but my whole f****** inheritance is going to you not one red cent goes to me because you earned that. Yo you earned like 50,000 times that times a hundred times 50. All of the money in the world in my opinion is still not enough compensation if it was given all to you for the things you've done.
Now fast forward to my sister dying she's on her deathbed she's checking out. you stay and active part of her life and you check on her and you stay by her side and you are there with her as a friend you coming you become her caretaker in the end you help my mother you stand by my family side we see my sister into the Afterlife and we live the lives we live.
I come to the city out of the blue I'll come to find out there was a warrant out I get arrested. With some help from another family member if y'all bond me out with $13,000 cash. A week later I'm called by the courts they said we didn't have to show the decision could be made without us there and when we pop up they walk out and they say here here's your piece of paper sir. You owe $14.75. I'll look at the piece of paper it says Mr so and so your debt with child support enforcement has been cleared in full please pay us these $14 processing fees and your case is closed. You smiled me a smile at you.
And you said the most horrific thing I've ever heard in my life from someone. I'm being cynical here because it was really the most amazing thing but I hate the term because I'm a basket case. You looked at me and said be better do better.
Fast forward after that I started trying to get my s*** together started trying to help you with vehicles and stuff around the house and somehow... Some f****** way... I had the audacity to get offended by the way you were treating me. And I had a nervous breakdown. And I begin saying things to you the absolutely weren't true that I absolutely didn't mean and I f****** flaked.
You with no contact to protect yourself.
Look at what you have done how could I have done that?
Anyways I've seen my mom turn on you with her words. I've seen your parents turn on you, I've turned on you, seen your friends turn on you, I've seen a world I've seen your ex's turn on you, but you know what I've never seen you turn on the people that you give your ability and your honor to and your bonds to I've never seen you turn on them ever.
You didn't turn on me you were protecting yourself.
Glue you were the strongest f****** woman I've ever met and you are worthy of an award that his world renowned and recognized because there are so many things that I haven't said here.
You are The Rock, you are the glue, you are the ties that bind... You are the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31 versus 10 to 31 is the description of who You are. Even to the point of where our kids were raised by you to place the dwelling now that you're at. You have taken in so many other people's kids you're like a parent to everyone. You excel at every job that you do. Vital asset to every team that you join. Highly efficient highly intelligent. Insanely gorgeous. Smart funny. God your sense of humor is so f****** awesome.
I'll see things in pictures my brain sees things in pictures and I just see pictures of you sometimes where always if we were around somebody that was down you would do the goofiest s*** you had to do to get them to smile because that's what you do. Just like sis did and this is her birthday gift from me because she told me several times to think about how hard you have worked. And she begged me to draw that picture before she died I got it toward the day before she died it was so important to her that picture is me holding her hand and her grabbing a star and her feet rooted to the ground and the roots coming into my feet and it says my brother taught me to reach for the stars my sister taught me to remain grounded.
And it's weird because I look at that and I think about how much of a icon and how much of a aura and presence glue was see y'all were glue one and two. And I'll go get that picture that she had me draw and it brings these overwhelming senses of things because I miss her so much but it brings you into the picture too because you always kept me grounded and I could envision anything anything on vision and you could take it for what it was and you could be like okay it's not that practical but it can be done and you would make the systems that made it happen no matter what it was I could create anything with you. You are after all Earth. I'm air. Reach for the Stars grounded etc.
Do you have so many amazing qualities and you have done so many honorable things. And for my sister's birthday I honor you her sister because the things that she said really ring true now. If you never talk to me again I respect it, if you want us to try to have some kind of working amicable relation I respect it but I have to have communication, you are so much of everything good and honestly I still love you so much thatI fall apart in your presence. But forget me man for real f*** me. Glue I want you to be happy you deserve happiness and if I take away from that then I need to shut my f****** mouth and I need to take that s*** so I went down and I need to smile because I know that you're happier. I truly know what it's like to want something so bad because I have for years but I never got healthy I'm just now getting around to taking care of myself. But I have for years wanted you and when I couldn't have you that's when you became Bruce Willis and you was popping my ass in the face saying you feel that boy that's your pride f****** with you.
Will glue I'm swallowing my pride. I want you to be happy no matter what I want you to be honored. If you ever do decide you want me in your life in any form please give me the communication I need to approach it healthily if not I'll f*** it up. I'm not even going to ask you what you want I'm not going to bug you but if by some chance in hell you ever find this letter just know at any point anytime you can reach out to me and ask for anything. I have taken and taken and taken and you have given and given and given it's time for me to sit the f*** down shut the f****** and love you the way you're supposed to be loved. And that means unconditionally loving you for who you are not loving you for me loving you because I absolutely adore who You are and I want to see the best life you can have happen.
You probably can't see your value and priceless coming out of my mouth or anyone else still does not do it justice.
Going to write a story about us glue.
And I promise to never promise again and just show you by allowing you the power dynamic you deserve to make your own choices and get the happiest healthiest life you can without me interjecting you've done it well this far better than me. Have made myself look like a total helpless loser in this but we both know what I'm capable of and what I'm about. If you need a roll for me just communicate it. I'll give it my all even if giving it my all means standing outside the box looking in but never burdening you with the fact that I am anymore.
And I'm not going to bring it up. Man I hope one day you get all the things you deserve.
You're admired appreciated loved and honored. By many. You are the Chief cornerstone woman. You are woman all woman.
I love you always will. Have my power dynamics take what you need and should you ever need me to flex my power because we both know all you got to do is make the call and I'll flex on whatever the hell you need me to as hard as you need me to and I'll scoop my ass right on out the way if that's what you need after it's done
Thank you glue
Buy some odd chance should you ever want me to be the one to try to love you communicate with me and point me in the direction I'm so f***** up out here I need direction and I know that they could be poisonous to you so you being The logical thinker that you are take that for what you will.
I've never been able to fully give myself to anyone else because I truly feel that to this day I will take my love for you to the grave.
You're that special.
Should I ever get a chance to love you and stand by your side of your man again you're going to have to let me die and and come out of the death of at least once because I'll die of happiness and wake up I just I wouldn't know how to handle it.
To me it's like imagine somebody said hey here's this egg but it doesn't have a shell that's just made of the rubber stuff that holds the shell together and you've got to run this egg 3 MI of mountain terrain in 20 minutes or the whole world ends.
Well I would just take the f****** egg and throw it on the ground. That's how I've been treating things. That's what I'm relearning everything.
It could be a detriment to you you know the sign of this always protect yourself and do what's best for your happiness but if I could love you again and be your man the things I would do I can't tell you because that would be the same old same old and honestly I just don't know.
I just know I love you you've always been everything to me and there will never be anyone that compares and there never has been.
Thank you for who you are

Long story short, picked up an auto 2008 e92 335i about a week ago with 75,000~ on it. Of course no lights when I bought it, and now it’s been nothing but problems, I’m lit up like a Christmas tree. I’ve been reading a lot on this forum (thanks everyone) and learning as much as I can. My experience is with Japanese imports, so this is my first BMW experience… learning the nuances 😂
It’s got a rough idle, and will stall out if I don’t give it some gas on a cold start. When warm, it’ll crank up and idle but still rough. It actually feels like it’s got okay power when driving it, and there are no major hiccups or jolts under load. I’d say it runs smoother in boost at 45mph than it does just sitting idle. There was one instance where I got a little higher into boost and it threw it into limp mode. After sitting for a day and cranking back up, limp was gone.
I did find a vacuum leak on the nipple of one of the vacuum tanks, so that’s at least one problem identified, but it’s definitely a minor leak and I don’t imagine it’s causing all of the codes below.
Anyways, I hooked up Carly to get a diag and here are the codes:
0029DC - cyl injection cutout
0029E1 - mixture control 2
002AAF - fuel pump plausibility
002DED - closed-circuit current violation
BMW, naturally, wants a kidney to diag and repair the problems, so I guess I’m getting my hands dirty with a German car after growing up on Mazda 😂🤣
They mentioned to start with the high/low fuel pressure sensors, repair the vacuum leak at the tank, and reassess, so that’s my current plan. Carly is saying that code 0029DC is a Charge Air Temp sensor, but I am not seeing one on the car. Does it mean a MAP sensor?
Any input, ideas, etc., very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance, and even though this has been a shaky intro to BMW ownership, I’m having fun with it.
Update: threw some Techron in today to see if maybe it’s a stuck injector or some other grimy part of the fuel system. Drove it around a bit more while monitoring MHD for rail pressure. It went back into limp mode after driving around a bit mostly out of boost. When it went into limp mode I got a new code: 29F2, fuel high pressure system, and the rail pressure reading dropped to 50 and stuck there (unsure yet if this is just by design of limp mode or because my hpfp or rail sensor is bad).
Any thoughts on where I should start on the replacing? Sensors first?
Cheers

Replaced Throttle Positioning Sensor, MAP and Idle Control Valve. I’ve cleaned the Throttle Body and checked for vac leaks. 2001 4.0 is idling at 1800rpm in P &N and if I hit the throttle it jumps to 3k. Shifting into D or R drops rpm to 1100. It’s shifting rough now (I think bc of the rpm issue). Symptom to begin the replacement of sensors was dead battery and no start no crank. So TPS was first the ICV, then MAP. It threw a speed sensor error but that code has not shown up since it was cleared. Any advice?

Hey everyone!
I'm in need of some guidance and advice regarding an intermittent stalling problem I've been experiencing with my 2013 Ford Focus equipped with a 1.0 EcoBoost engine.
The problem occurred today while idling, as I was waiting for the car to warm up. Out of the blue, the engine stalled with a loud thud sound and a sudden lurch forward. It's worth noting that my foot was on the clutch (clutch all the way in), and the car was in gear. The oil light came on at the moment of stalling, but it disappeared once I restarted the car. Also worth noting that I tried to purposely stall the car and the thud wasn’t as loud (car did slightly lurch forward). The thud I’m describing is almost as if someone rear-ended me, but the sound came from the engine
Here are some additional details: - This stalling issue happened in the past, but it hadn't occurred for about a year until recently. - It has also occurred at very low speeds (<20km/hr) before (clutch all the way in, and car in 1-2 gear) - The car had not been started for 2-3 days leading up to this incident. - A major service was recently performed (3 months ago), including the replacement of air filters, oil, and spark plugs. - Since the incident, the car has been driven on the motorway for 6-8 miles without any issues and restarted fine after being parked for 30 minutes. - Last year, when I went to service my car (thats when I bought it), the mechanic told me that the oil pressure sensor was disconnected and that he simply reconnected it.
This car has been driven for approximately 6000 miles since I bought it, and this issue has occurred only 3 times. I’m hoping its some weird sensor malfunction. If you have experienced what this is or know what could be potentially wrong, please do let me know!

Hey everyone!
I'm in need of some guidance and advice regarding an intermittent stalling problem I've been experiencing with my 2013 Ford Focus equipped with a 1.0 EcoBoost engine.
The problem occurred today while idling, as I was waiting for the car to warm up. Out of the blue, the engine stalled with a loud thud sound and a sudden lurch forward. It's worth noting that my foot was on the clutch (clutch pedal all the way in), and the car was in gear. The oil light came on at the moment of stalling, but it disappeared once I restarted the car. Also worth noting that I tried to purposely stall the car and the thud wasn’t as loud (car did slightly lurch forward). The thud I’m describing is almost as if someone rear-ended me, but the sound came from the engine
Here are some additional details: - This stalling issue happened in the past, but it hadn't occurred for about a year until recently. - It has also occurred at very low speeds (<20km/hr) before (clutch all the way in, and car in 1-2 gear) - The car had not been started for 2-3 days leading up to this incident. - A major service was recently performed (3 months ago), including the replacement of air filters, oil, and spark plugs. - Since the incident, the car has been driven on the motorway for 6-8 miles without any issues and restarted fine after being parked for 30 minutes. - Last year, when I went to service my car (thats when I bought it), the mechanic told me that the oil pressure sensor was disconnected and that he simply reconnected it.
This car has been driven for approximately 6000 miles since I bought it, and this issue has occurred only 3 times. I’m hoping its some weird sensor malfunction. If you have experienced what this is or know what could be potentially wrong, please do let me know!

Hey everyone!
I'm in need of some guidance and advice regarding an intermittent stalling problem I've been experiencing with my 2013 Ford Focus equipped with a 1.0 EcoBoost engine.
The problem occurred today while idling, as I was waiting for the car to warm up. Out of the blue, the engine stalled with a loud thud sound and a sudden lurch forward. It's worth noting that my foot was on the clutch (clutch all the way in), and the car was in gear. The oil light came on at the moment of stalling, but it disappeared once I restarted the car. Also worth noting that I tried to purposely stall the car and the thud wasn’t as loud (car did slightly lurch forward). The thud I’m describing is almost as if someone rear-ended me, but the sound came from the engine
Here are some additional details: - This stalling issue happened in the past, but it hadn't occurred for about a year until recently. - It has also occurred at very low speeds (<20km/hr) before (clutch all the way in, and car in 1-2 gear) - The car had not been started for 2-3 days leading up to this incident. - A major service was recently performed (3 months ago), including the replacement of air filters, oil, and spark plugs. - Since the incident, the car has been driven on the motorway for 6-8 miles without any issues and restarted fine after being parked for 30 minutes. - Last year, when I went to service my car (thats when I bought it), the mechanic told me that the oil pressure sensor was disconnected and that he simply reconnected it.
This car has been driven for approximately 6000 miles since I bought it, and this issue has occurred only 3 times. I’m hoping its some weird sensor malfunction. If you have experienced what this is or know what could be potentially wrong, please do let me know!

Before relaxing the pump, it cranked with no start. Threw the fuel pump at it and it is now starting but idles very low and stalls, and cannot idle without me pressing the gas pedal. I had the idle adjusted at a shop when the pump was failing, so maybe it needs to be re-adjusted again, but what else could be the issue, fuel wise? It’s a 1989 ford ranger 2.3l