Mariner outboard parts spark plug

I get that some people seriously believed this. I even heard a coworker, who’s in their late 20’s, say and believe this when talking about schools in some different state. I’m probably more on the perverted side so when I hear someone is wearing a tail I first think of a tail plug that they cut a hole for in their pants. So are the people who believed this first think of like a clip on things, something like a clip on tie but for a tail on your pants ?
Part of why I never even thought a single student was ever wearing a tail to school was because I imagine wearing a plug all day isn’t easy and plus then everyone else knows you’re wearing a damn plug to school. So was it really just like a clip on thing to the outside of the pants, assuming it was ever real, because that makes much more sense to me now than a minor wearing a plug to school.

Just another fun little story idea I had. I am still working on Humans are the violent ones but I like to bounce around and experiment with ideas to see what I really like. I also suck at writing more casual stories, as they give me severe writer's block as I try to map out how to make a scene feel genuine in my head, but I promise I'll update that soon. If you like this story and want to see more, then like and comment. I'll gladly continue this series as well.
Start of Personal Log
Humans don't like being told what to do. They don't like being commanded, put in their place, or snubbed. It was an inexorable, inalienable trait of humans, at least any noteable humans, to go against any authority that they believed was against their interests.
Humanity would not fit amongst the stars. Few ever did. It was a trait of most successful species to be willful, ambitious, and to desire more. But once they reached the stars the new (and simultaneously very old) pecking order either quashed any spirit such species had or simply eradicated them. Countless tomb worlds and diaspora served as painful reminders of what became of the nails that chose to stick out. The hammer of order would always strike. There could be no compromise, the very soul of the authority that held the Jurisdiction together relied on a show of unmatched power, or at least the illusion of item.
In reality, the Jurisdiction was an old, fat, and lazy beast. It filled its belly on the corpses of empires far and wide, and sated its bloodlust on the shattered dreams of hopeful cubs. It had every right to, for none could challenge it: there were no new frontiers to explore, nor were there any other enemies to conquer. The Milky Way, as humans had so strangely dubbed our cradle galaxy, as well as Andromeda, had long since been warred over and settled for millennia before humanity had arrived, bright-eyed and with familiar yet otherwise foolish dreams of cooperation and prosperity. The Jurisdiction did not cooperate, nor did it ensure prosperity. Oh, it claimed it did, but in reality it simply took. The rest was just the peace that came with not being the direct target of the biggest fish in the pond. The humans didn't like that, but they had no choice.
Slavery was a common tribute. The Jurisdiction had no use for other resources: it simply took. No, it wanted those who could facilitate that unequal exchange, those raised in a world where the only morality was the one set by your lord. The Jurisdiction was held together by expectations, obligations, and dury more than any kind of shared dream, so when you were ordered to take you did so without question. Humanity was new: they had no niche or value that set them apart, but they had a penchant for killing and taking, so the Jurisdiction gave them a taste of how the galaxy worked. They killed and they took. The humans didn't like that, but what choice did they have?
Humans were strange. They learned, but not in the way most species learned. Most species learned to adapt in a passive way, to adhere to the world around them. They flowed like water, moving past and around obstacles and confirming to the boxes they were assigned too. Humans didn't confirm, nor did they adapt: they made their circumstances fit their desires. They would not move around obstacles, but rather smash through them, and they refused to stay in one box for too long. The Jurisdiction merely saw them as a particularly loud nuisance, but those who faced their wrath knew better.
It is said that when a beast seeks to make an example, it shall humble its rival by killing it's cubs. Children were one of those universal constants that brought entire communities together: the Sok’klar saw their hatchlings as gifts, shaped by the fruitful currents of the universe in perfect harmony. The Yarrack saw each and every newborn whelp as an uncut gemstone, ready to be shaped into something magical. Humanity oftentimes referred to their offspring as angels, or spirits of unbridled good sent by the gods themselves. Children were seen by most of the galaxy as gifts.
The Jurisdiction saw them as a lever to inflict suffering. It had become quite effective at enacting psychological punishments on those that stood up and spoke out. You dare to disobey? You believe you can speak out? Your gifts shall be taken from you, and you shall be without joy.
Humans didn't like this, but the Jurisdiction would have their pound of flesh, and humankind would kneel. And they did. But humans were patient creatures: most species who retained that trait of willful spit also lacked patience.
I had long since become desensitized to the Jurisdiction’s actions: it was simply how the universe worked now, as if it were a constant akin to gravity. Cruelty was the unspoken rule of this seemingly unending age, where our lives never appeared to move forward or backwards, only lay dormant. The Jurisdiction had been the unyielding authority that ruled the galaxy for thousands of years, venerable yet feared all the same.
And for the longest time I was just another cog in its wheel. My name is Kalnuracht Sedjuur-Noumar VII, and was the scion of the noble house Sedjuur-Noumar. I was born into what most would describe as veiled apathy, living a life that could be attributed to the privileged class of feared scribes that enacted the will of those above. I was an administrator and nothing more. And now I am doomed to be far less than that in the eyes of my former constituents within the endless administration. I am the only scion, as is tradition, and without an heir I am the last of my house, our name to be scrubbed from the records, worthless, meaningless, and forgotten.
I am merely Kalnuracht, nothing else and nothing more. I have seen from their eyes, the eyes of the downtrodden, and it makes my crimes of association with the Jurisdiction feel all the more damning on my worthless soul. I am worthless to the world, and this is my story.
End Personal Log #1
Start of Neural Lace Narrative Log #1
They came from the black like carrion birds in the night, encircling our convoy as if it were a dying animal ready to be picked clean without remorse. There was no warning, no list of demands sent out as civilized peoples did, nor was there either any requirement for unconditional surrender nor chance to parlay, as was done so under letter of marque: this was an unmistakable call for violence and nothing else. They sought to reduce us to slag and scavenge the rest.
So, as one would expect, the entire bridge of the ship was nearing a panicked state. This was not the actions of those practicing civility, but rather the common behaviors of despoiling barbarians, the kind that tore their way through the dark reaches of the galaxy as if they owned it.
“Wayfinder, what do your probes see?” Shouted the ship’s sovereign. He was an older Kar’Rowmach, an amphibious cephalopod species with a venerable history within the Jurisdiction going back thousands of years. Normally one such as him would be above me if it weren't for the fact that I was under the authority of the Jurisdiction’s seal of office. He didn't like me very much, but most of his kind shared the same sentiment.
“All dark, honorable Sovereign: the sensor arrays are wailing but the feedback we're reviewing is beyond incomprehensible,” the wayfinder replied with a certain restrained temper in his voice. The Sok'klar wayfinder swayed gently, his tentacled limbs grasping different metallo-liquid braille output arrays, the liquid gallium flexing and reshaping unnaturally to allow him to to take in multiple different sources of sensory output at once, with the primary navigation computer plugged into the cybernetics surrounding his opaque, gelatinous head and plugging directly into his tube-shaped brain.
The Sovereign cursed in Loskat and pointed to his bridge crew while I simply sat in the back, near the Sovereign’s symbolic throne. “Prepare countermeasures and spool up the warp drive, we cannot allow the amanuensis to be taken! He carries sensitive information that only he can translate and transcribe!”
As the bridge crew nodded and began fiddling with their own systems, I preened my feathered hide anxiously. I wasn't a fighter: us nobles of the cloth were the educated minority above all else, not those who waged war or partook in hard labor. Special cybernetics in my brain allowed me to translate triple-encoded messages that usually took a ducal signet codekey or above to parse, but even without that I was a skilled mathematician and logician. I had terabytes worth of knowledge stored within the hardware installed in my head, all well protected of course, but if I were to die it would still be a waste. I could only imagine the damage any malcontenders could do with it if they were able to get their filthy hands on me.
Suddenly, the ship rocked, and the gallium overhead display began to form crescendos like I'd never seen before. “Sovereign, decks A-3 through C-12 are venting atmosphere and our coolant systems have been obliterated,” the Wayfinder spoke in an almost serene voice, as if he was completely unconcerned by current events. I knew they were simply incapable of tonal displays, but it was unnerving nonetheless. “Once we jump, we will not be able to risk another until the vacuum of the void can reduce temperatures to acceptable levels within the plasma capacitors.”
“Damn them,” the armored nautiloid hissed, his barbed feelers coiling in frustration, “May the currents take them. What are our options? what can we see? This fleet cannot fall to the void today, not with such vital cargo.” My hackles rose lightly at the Kar’Rowmach referred to me as some object rather than an esteemed amanuensis of the Jurisdiction, but I bit my forked tongue. Now was not the time to squabble with the sovereign over who was what and what titles I deserved, not while he was so desperately attempting to keep what semblance of order within his fleet that he had left.
I could not blame the crew for being panicked either: wars were practically mythologized now, having been long since rendered obsolete with the rise of the Jurisdiction, and that felt like an eternity ago. Now, either being levied into or joining a ducal naval force was simply another career, more akin to serving as an officer of the law rather than a fully fledged soldier. Minimal training was required, most of it being the technicals of one's duty rather than any kind of combat conditioning, so expecting a fleet to actually be prepared for a combat scenario in a universe where peace was the norm was laughable.
“We are practically blind, Sovereign,” stated the Sok'klar Wayfinder, “our probes are offline, and shipboard graviton displacement sensory arrays have been rendered unreliable at best.”
“What about the particle emission array? Has there been a spike in radioactivity where we were hit?”
The Wayfinder seemed to think for a second, his gelatinous form flexing and morphing a bit before answering. “Affirmative, a jump from negligible to forty billion becquerels along decks A through E-5 on our starboard side.”
“Torpedoes…” the Sovereign hissed, stroking his barbed feelers, “Human Torpedoes. Only those primitives would rely on crude nuclear warheads.” He then turned to his militant leaders on the ship. “Noddos, Rel’ads: organize your phalanxes and prepare to repel boarders. We are bound to be assailed by those rancorous primates, and I want their skulls piled at my feet if they dare set foot on our ship.”
“Your wish is our command, Sovereign,” the two militant commanders spoke as one. Noddos, a large bipedal with multiple sets of curved spines running down his back, a pair of graceful horns sprouting from his head, and multiple rows of sharp teeth in his snout, bowed first, followed by Rel’ads, a marsupial with long saberteeth and thick fur. They both must have been fierce warriors in their own right to each lead a phalanx. They wore thick, semi-powered armor and held dueling polearms alongside their usual plasma casters, and seemed completely unfazed by the situation we were in. As they stomped out of the brightly lit bridge, I let out a quiet squawk of discontentment. “Sovereign, why haven't we jumped again? We are wasting precious time.”
“I am working on it, you spineless beaurocrat!” He warbled back, his feelers tensing in anger, “besides, it's not as if you're the one who will be spilling blood today, amanuensis, so flatten your wretched beak or I shall weld it shut with a plasma torch.
I was about to reply with something indignant, but the ship rocked again, this time causing the lights to flicker and the air to become… thick. The skin under my feathers began to blister, and I became lightheaded and confused. “Seal the damnable vents, initiate radiation scrubbers, and activate secondary life support!” Shouted the Sovereign, “Their nuclear weapons are rendering the ship inhospitable!”
I coughed up magenta blood accidentally, and I could feel more seeping from under my eyes. Some of the crew was in a similar position, but others were more resistant to radiation than I. The Sok'klar seemed completely at ease as he ran his tentacles across his morphic braille arrays before calmly announcing the ship’s status. “I've regained some control over our probes: ten, twelve, and seventeen are active and fully functional, the rest are either still malfunctioning or permanently inoperable. A rapid rise in localized radiation is also interfering with the detection of graviton displacement; we can't sense photon redirection, thus readings will remain inconclusive.
“Wayfinder, damn you, get me some kind of out here! We're easy prey until we can respond in kind!”
“Negative, something has gone awry with our processing hub, I am attempting to troubleshoot-”
And with that, the Wayfinder’s bulbous head exploded in a cascade of opaque lavender blood, covering the front half of the deck crew like a morbid art piece. Some of the crew screamed and shouted in terror before removing their cranial adaptors and choosing to interact with their displays manually. Others died just as quickly, unable to unplug in time as their brain stems fried or their blood boiled. It was a horrible way to go, having your insides neutralized by your own cybernetics, so I was glad I wasn't connected to the system.
“Cybernetic warfare! All systems are to be considered compromised, switch to manual settings or you'll be killed!”
The lights in the bridge flickered again, and the displays went haywire. The bridge crew, which obviously weren't acquainted with working without being hard-linked into the mainframe, moved at a much slower pace.
“Launch missile pods A through F and set to self-target after five hundred kilometers, then rely on their ballistic coordinates to begin firing broadsides! If we can't see the humans due to their meddling, we'll just have to feel them.” Shouted the Sovereign, “and got me a detailed report on the ship’s diagnostics readings. I need to know if this flagship is still capable of escaping or if we'll have to scuttle it and retreat on another.”
“Acknowledged, Sovereign, launching now,” affirmed another deck officer as he swiped across his own gallium output array. I could hear the dull thunk, thunk, thunk of missiles pushing out of their pods before racing off to their intended targets, then the mechanical whirring as the pods rotated to be reloaded by slaves in the lower decks. I was regaining my bearings as the many horrible sensations of being overwhelmed by radiation poisoning were beginning to subside, but I still felt as if I had been microwaved. The air was stale, the crew was horribly sick as well, and even the sovereign himself seemed to be on his last leg. I was beginning to believe that I might die here.
“Sovereign, a message from the lower decks,” shouted a communications officer, his chitin scraping against itself as he turned quickly, “they're requesting reinforcements, something about being overrun.”
“Impossible,” the Sovereign hissed out in a vain attempt to exude confidence, “We must outnumber the humans, they always go for bigger targets out of arrogance.”
“I've received reports that it's not just humans: the primates seem to make up only a third or so of the assailing force, along with some Phaeldaer and Vrex.”
The commander slammed his clawed hands down on his own output array in a fit of rage, obviously overwhelmed by the circumstances, “Then this wasn't just a typical assault, but something more sinister!” The nautiloid warbled, blood seeping from his shell as the full effects of the radiation took hold, “Get Rel’ads on the line, have him divert all spare lances to the lower decks or else we'll lose the only offensive capabilities we can use.”
“Rel'ads has gone dark, Sovereign, his vitals are critical.”
“Then either get me Rel'ads tail-leader or get me Noddos!” He screamed in rage, “don't give me this nonsense! If we don't pick it up we're all going to die, is that what you want?”
“No, Sovereign, I'm simply overwhelmed-”
“We're all overwhelmed! By the tides, I'm dying of radiation poisoning you nincompoop! Get me something I can work with!”
The officer didn't even acknowledge the Sovereign after that, simply turning back to his display. Eventually, the Sovereign was able to get Noddos on the line.
“Sovereign, two thirds of my phalanxes have been decimated by combat with the primitives and the radiation, the rest are in shambles. We must retreat and fortify elsewhere!”
“Then the ship is compromised! Rel'ads is unresponsive and the lower decks are swarming with intruders. We must evacuate the amanuensis to another ship.”
Just as the Sovereign spoke, I heard several gentle thumps rattle against the bridge’s door, and it made me uneasy. Some of the bridge crew seemed to feel the same, as they looked incredibly nervous and some even drew their sidearms. Just as the sovereign turned to give further orders, the door blew inward with a deafening explosion, followed by shouting and gunfire. Several of the bridge officers were dispatched quickly, brain matter and blood splattering against the delicate electronics. Others were shot in the legs, the torso, or in any other exotic yet non-vital body parts. The humans poured in, brandishing primitive ballistic firearms and jury-rigged energy weapons while wearing scavenged, legion-grade powered armor.
The Sovereign was the next to go, but he wasn't afforded an honorable death. He was shot along the arm with a particularly potent plasma caster, burning off his clawed hand and cauterizing the wound, the acrid smell of roasting chitin filling the already hot and cramped bridge. He fell back against his output array, the gallium reaching new highs and lows as more diagnostics and casualty reports were delivered, and he clutched his stump angrily. “I'll burn every last one of you in the foundries! I'll tie you to stakes, cover you in wax and set you alight! Your screams will be broadcasted all over the galaxy!”
One human warrior stomped up and slammed the butt of his rifle into the sovereign’s face, shattering his facial plates and causing blue blood to splatter across his section of the bridge. “Shut the fuck up, you mutant lobster,” the human said before dragging him by both antennae towards the center of the bridge and receiving a stained breeching axe from one of his comrades. “Emmanuel, start recording. We need proof.”
The other human nodded and pressed a button on his armor before lifting up his gun again. The rest of the humans fanned out, holding everyone else at gunpoint. I tried to get up and sneak out, but a human grabbed me by my neck and nearly wrung it out as he forced me to my knees and pointed a sidearm to my skull. “Get down, you piece of shit, before I blow your brains out too.”
“Damnable primate,” I hissed, but he bashed me in my skull with the base of his sidearm’s grip and sent me sprawling, making my already pounding headache worse. Another human shouted at him in a language I didn't recognize, but he sounded furious. The first brought me back up to my knees again, and I complies with a hiss and a groan, blood still leaking from my eyes and mouth and my world was spinning.
The Sovereign struggled, but he was weak from the radiation poisoning and he couldn't exactly resist on account of his lost arm. The human with the breaching ax kicked the Sovereign down and forced him to kneel before lifting up the breeching ax and splitting his chitinous head down the middle with one powerful swing, sending more blood and brains across the floor. “Execution confirmed, take his antennae just in case and we've got ourselves a bounty. Now all we need is that ugly cat’s teeth and the fat hedgehog-thing’s grimy spines and we'll be in business. Although, they do have skulls… we might as well just take their heads.”
The real horror of the situation dawned on me at that moment: they were going to kill us all, or maybe worse. They mentioned a bounty for the commanders, and multiple of the higher ranking ship officers were already dead, their brains splattered against the walls or their bodies torn apart by gunfire. I wasn't dead yet, but that didn't mean much since I wasn't an immediate threat.
“Alright, round them up and bring all the grunts to the hanger bay, then kill the rest,” the leader of the humans said in such a lackadaisical manner that his complete disregard for life almost made me sick… almost. I had seen worse from the Jurisdiction before, but usually that was from me delivering some kind of ordered judgment on a world that had sinned against order. I might have simply been the messenger, but I had seen many of the outcomes. “And make sure to collect whatever proof of bounties you can, we'll need to deliver them to the office to get cashed out. Don't let this be a repeat of last time where Juarez fucking forgot to take a few heads and it ended up cutting our profits in half, the fucking retard.”
Some of the humans chuckled at that as they dragged more of the senior officers away, out of the room and into the hall,where I heard gunshots. The rest of the bridge crew froze in place, different fear instincts kicking in. The remaining Sok'klar corralled together into what seemed to be a singular, semi-congealed mass as if to try and trick the humans into believing that they were much bigger and much more threatening than they actually were. The one Thei’chi on the bridge, an ensign who had clearly thought this would be a simple mission, bore her curved fangs at the humans and growled as they approached, her hackles completely vertical and her eyes dilated. They quickly muzzled and bound her before beating her over the head with a gun stock, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Many others simply cooperated, eyes wide and yet simultaneously empty, as if they couldn't quite process that the ship had been taken and the commanding officers were being executed as the rest were escorted to the hangar.
“Get the damn messenger down to the hanger as well, we need whatever data's in his ugly lizard head, then we can decide on what to do with him.”
I spat at him in spite, as if to try and seem brave, but it was clearly an empty gesture. “You won't get anything, primate! You couldn't possibly crack the encryption!”
The human holding me seemed to wind up for another swing, but the commanding officer simply held up his hand to stop my tormentor before strolling over to me. He knelt down and removed his helmet, revealing a beige-colored face covered in scars, wiry black hair cut down to the scalp, and multiple tattoos. “You're really fucking mouthy for a hostage,” he said before punching me across my beak faster than I could register. I heard a sharp crack as his fist connected, and my head spun again as the metallic taste of blood pooled into my mouth. “I'd advise you to shut up, but I'm sure you won't listen: you aristocratic types are so full of yourselves. Maybe I should have you flogged in the public square until your vocal chords give out once we rip those cybernetics from your head, huh? How's that sound?”
“It won't matter… it won't change anything… the Jurisdiction will hunt you down.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it will happen for some time: they really suck at doing anything that requires effort, even when they're mad enough. They just keep sending their rabid lapdogs to try and smoke us out, and they always end up full of holes,” the human officer said with a smirk, his yellowish-white teeth and green eyes sending shivers down my spine as he drew his knife. “They're just horrible at their job, you know? You've all gotten so lazy and incompetent after being able to just take what you want without resistance, and now that you've met people who are angry and crazy enough to fight back you act as if we're committing some grave injustice,” he placed the knife against my throat, the flat just underneath my now bent beak, “No, we just took a few pages out of your book, ‘cept we've got standards. No kids, for one…” he seemed to look off into the distance as his sneer deepened, “but it's more than that, we don't attack the defenseless in general and we still win against you all in fair fights.”
I went to say something else snarky, but he quickly grabbed my thin tongue with his fingers and yanked it out, blood from my mouth pulling to the floor as he held the blade of his knife against it. “No no, none of that. Say one more thing and I'll cut that rancid little tongue of yours out of your mouth and feed it to you,” he hissed at me, pressing the blade down just hard enough to draw blood. “Do you know what it's like to see a planet turn into a tomb?" he asked me, gritting his teeth, “Do you know what it's like to see everything you've ever known crumble to ash and glass, all the life and the green stripped away leaving nothing but bones? I do. I've seen it happen to countless worlds, and my grandfather always told me stories of how you bastards did it to Earth. He still prays in its direction five times a day, to Mecca, but he knows the Kaaba is gone now, or maybe it's still there, buried in the bones of those who sought refuge there.”
I didn't care for the human’s nonsensical beliefs, but I did care to correct him. “I've seen it before, and I'll see it again. And so will you, it's inevitable. The Jurisdiction will always have its judgment fulfilled, there is no alternative.”
“One day, I hope we can rectify that,” he said, then he sheathed his knife and slammed my head against the metal floor with enough force to nearly knock me out. As I lost consciousness, I could hear him speak. “Take him to the Chop Doc, and make sure the cybernetics don't get damaged: they're supposedly more valuable than any bounty on this ship.”
Warning: Severe radiation poisoning detected. Flush system immediately.
Warning: Neural Lace removal detected, chance of neurological damage high. Proceeded with caution.

So I have a 5.4 that’s in a 08 f250. It’s a piece of shit but I want to keep it running long enough to engine swap it. Everything around it is solid. So I went ahead and changed everything spark plugs coil packs upgraded injectors fuel pump fuel filter and it seems I’m having a problem with to much fuel now. In the beginning it was I wasn’t getting enough so I changed it all to new now I can’t figure out why it’s burning so much. No codes come up at all and runs fine but idles high. Any suggestions other than it already being a ticking time bomb?

Hey there I got a '99 K2500 pickup with the 7.4L engine. Last Saturday after coming off the highway I noticed my truck was shaking a bit more than usual and misfiring. There's no check engine lights either.
It smells like raw fuel coming out of the exhaust and has black soot coming out which indicates that it's running rich to me. I could hear slight ticking coming out of the engine, and it also shakes now too. At first I thought it was my Spark plug wires and possibly the plugs as well since they were cracked and were losing voltage. So I changed my plugs and wires earlier today and hoped it would fix the issue but if anything else, it runs even worse now.
List of things I've done to it in the last year have included changing the spark plugs, wires, distributor, cap, rotor, maf sensor, map sensor, air filter and fuel filter.
I've checked the timing which was in specs, the o2 sensors which were fine, the fuel pressure which seems to drop pretty fast when the vehicle is key on, engine off but is in specs when running and holds at 56-58 psi. I checked for vacuum leaks and didn't find any the Map sensor indicated that it was not holding and was fluctuating.
The vehicle has for a few years now had issues warm starting. By that i mean taking longer than usual to crank before firing and running. As compared to hot and cold starting which is instant. I'm kind of stumped at this point, could it be a stuck lifter, fuel injector(s) or a fuel pressure regulator? Anything else?

I've made a post about this before, this happens when its plugged in. It's become very annoying as of recently because a slight movement causes this. by slight movement I mean gently moving the table its on or some walking past it. Is there a faulty part?

Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
With the coming of morning Rene found the earth enwreathed in a grey and sinuous fog that was so thick he felt like he was standing on the shores of an ocean of sky. Only the lapping edges of the wide pond he had located was visible beneath rolling tails of mist. He couldn’t even tell where the heavens ended and the water began—they had all joined together at the waist in one vague mass. It all had filthy, sooty smell to it too, like the inside of a baker’s oven. As through a clouded window pane he saw a red and malevolent haze glowing on faraway slopes to the southeast. Zildiz noted his bewilderment and taunted him:
“Don’t you recognized your own handiwork when you see it? An entire biome went up in smoke because of the Engine’s rampage. Not that I mind—all this is Leaper territory after all.”
“Cry me a river,” Rene scowled, dipping his boots into pond and wading into it. It was only knee height at the deepest point. What’s more, he could see the blurred outlines of small darting shapes below the surface that he hoped were fish.
He made Zildiz sit with her back against a sapling and bound her to it with the spool of webbing he’d collected.
“Don’t get any ideas,” he told her. He slipped off his boots and raggedy socks, rolling up the jumpsuit around his calves and getting back into the water.
At first he tried to get at the fishes with his bare hands. It would be just as easy as catching the milky cave species they raise in the aquaculture ponds back in Ulysses, he thought. All one had to do was slip one’s hand in with glacial patience so as not to disturb them, dipping the palm right under their bellies. Rene had gotten so good at it as a boy that he could even tickle them right in the gills and under the chin. But he soon discovered that the fish on the surface world were nothing like their subterranean cousins. For one thing, they weren’t blind, or stupid. The little rascals fled when he floundered after them, feet slipping on the mossy stones that covered the pond bed. Zildiz looked on with interest as the single worst attempt at hunting she had ever had the misfortune to witness began. This Rene-creature was as clumsy as it was slow-witted, splashing around in fruitless pursuit of its feeble prey. How had these animals ever managed to conquer the stars? Zildiz watched as Rene stubbed his toes on a sharp rock and howled, falling arse-backwards and losing his visor in the process. He then painstakingly dredged the pond bottom for it, turning it up some time later all covered in water lilies and mud. Rene angrily slung his backpack back on and cleared the gunk out of his mask before fitting it back on his face, only to begin yelling as a river crab he’d left inside tried to crawl up his nose. He tore the mask off again and doused it in the pond, finally ridding himself of the curious crustacean.
“Phew!” he sighed with relief.
“Toss it in again,” Zildiz suggested gaily, “At least that way you might catch another.”
“Shut up,” Rene glowered, face going purple with rage. He grabbed the biggest stick of driftwood he could find and began beating the surface of the water as if it owed him money.
Zildiz hid a smile at that. She was famished and events had definitely taken a turn for the worse, but at least someone else was suffering more than she was.
And while this halfwit is preoccupied, Zildiz schemed, I’ll go ahead and signal the god for help. She activated the magnetosynaptic organ behind her inner ear and tried all the usual frequencies.
Nothing but static. Either her organ had been knocked out of commission with the loss of her exomorph’s functions, or the heavy smog caused by the wildfire was getting in the way of reception.
But more than this, a greater part of the Vitalus would be preoccupied with containing the damage to its work. As a shared consciousness It had unimaginable processing power, yet It tended to deal with the world in a holistic fashion, neglecting the individual elements. This did not mean that the god could not be effectively omniscient—It merely had a wholly different perspective and hierarchy of priorities than did Its mortal servants.
For problems on the micro scale, it did however deploy Hollowores or other Inkarnids. Zildiz wasn’t vain enough to think it would send such an avatar of creation and destruction just to retrieve one lone Gallivant. No help would be forthcoming for a while. No matter; she was certain that she could outsmart the Fleet-man soon enough.
Then something happened which drastically altered her perception of him and his kind. Rene grabbed another stick and banged the two pieces together, frowning with concentration. Without a word he returned to the survival kit and combined them with the spool of webbing, twisting them together into the silk and rotating them to create something that was greater than the sum of its parts.
Grinning evilly, the Fleet man took the two sticks and the webbing strung between them and gently lowered them into the pond. He then waited, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth as a fish approached him. When it refused to come any closer, he took one of the white cubes and crumbled it into pieces, which he sprinkled liberally into the water right above his new tool. Eventually the fish took the bait and swam in for a nibble. In a flash Rene pulled up the net and held up a wriggling, pinknosed carp with an ecstatic cry of victory. Chuckling at his own cleverness, Rene hauled his catch to the bank and dashed its brains out on the rocks. He then repeated the process until he caught three more carp with the exact same method. He gutted and descaled the carp with his clasp knife in a trice.
Zildiz was seeing the boundless cunning of these creatures firsthand. It bothered her more than she cared to admit. Granted, if her exomorph was up and running she could’ve killed him in a heartbeat, humming sword or not. But the rate at which he had adapted to his surroundings was concerning.
For comparison, say a Gallivant wished to specialize in the catching of fish. It would have had to ask the Vitalus to edit its gilt helix so that its exomorph could accept the grafting of an appendage designed solely to catch fish. This was assuming the Vitalus had calculated that the addition of this new capability would not lead to the eventual collapse of the riverine ecosystem in the next ten or twenty generations, or that the Gallivant in question could be entrusted with such a responsibility, assuming that its lineage’s previous contributions to the Great Game rendered it worthy of the sudden advantage.
Meanwhile, Rene had developed the net tool in less than the span of an hour, with absolutely zero regard for the consequences of his actions. Zildiz could only imagine what an entire nation of Renes could do if they were given time to multiply beyond Arachnea’s carrying capacity. Clearly this Fleet was a threat not to be taken lightly.
Rene finished cleaning the fish and skewered them on sharp sticks. He then found some pebbles and started banging them together to produce sparks above a pile of bark scrapings and twigs, careful placing one of the brown lumps from the kit inside. It was just as successful as his first attempts at fishing; he smacked the rocks together until he bruised his fingers, then hurled them cursing into the fog.
“Sonofa…” he swore, squatting next to Zildiz and looking at the raw fish dejectedly.
“What, you can manage all that but can’t get a fire going?” she asked, nodding at the blaze in the distance. Rene made no reply, too busy sucking on his thumb. Suddenly he unsheathed the sword and Zildiz nearly panicked, thinking that she had finally annoyed him to the point of violence. Instead, Rene picked up a chunk of quartz crystal off the ground and cut it in half, producing a shower of sparks as the edge met the mineral. Rene piled the fuel again and repeated the trick with the sword and the stone until the tinder caught and tiny streamers of smoke wafted up. Cupping his hands around the precious heart of flame, Rene blew on it lovingly and smiled as it grew into a merry, crackling cookfire.
Making sure to give Zildiz a smug look, Rene sat cross-legged next to it and began to barbeque his meal. Zildiz had built fires herself during the cold monsoon seasons as a special allowance granted by the Vitalus for extreme weather fluctuations, but those had been for warmth, not to burn food with.
The smell of the browning fish skin flooded Rene’s mouth with spit. He saw Zildiz licking her chops unconsciously, said:
“Don’t worry. You’ll get yours.”
Sure enough he held out first batch of carp for her to eat, blowing on it to cool it. Zildiz even forgot her hostility for a moment as she seized the fish with her jaws.
“I can feed myself, you know,” she told him between crunchy mouthfuls of bone and white flesh. It was delicious! An explosion of flavors that was at once both salty and slightly burnt, the meat firm yet succulent. Swallowing greedily, she pulled the fish off its stick and ate it whole, the fish’s head crackling under her molars. Rene watched her choke the thing down with a mix of amazement and alarm, then replied:
“I would consider giving you an arm free to eat with, but you’re a walking arsenal, lady. Is it good, though? My cooking?”
“Passable,” Zildiz lied with a shrug of her shoulders. Her affected disdain did not stop her from giving the rest of the carp a longing look. Rene knew she was hungry and tore the next fish in half, gorging himself and giving Zildiz the rest. Very soon all that was left of their breakfast was a pile of bones and scales that Rene kicked back into the pond. He sat back and propped his bare feet next to the fire to dry his toes.
“Uuurrpp!” Zildiz belched appreciatively.
“Bless you,” Rene commented, and settled down for a nap. He could only rest his eyes for a moment, as the woman would slit his throat as soon as he let his guard down. But the fatigue of the constant marching and fighting amassed on the edges of his consciousness. Slowly but surely, he was pulled down into the untroubled realm of sleep, free from the cares of his existence.
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

Selling off most of my PC parts as it has mainly sat here for around 9 months not getting too much use after getting busier and the Steam Deck occupying my free time. I am located in Sweden but am willing to ship outside of the EU for an additional cost. Parts were all purchased originally in the US online before I came here (Amazon, Best Buy) so PSU has the US plug as well. Prices are in euro and shipped within the EU.
Intel i9-13900k - 380 shipped
GeForce RTX 4070 FE - 435 shipped
DeepCool LT720 360mm AIO (White) - 75 shipped
6x Lian Li Uni Fan SL120 V2 RGB (White) - 65 shipped
TeamGroup T-Create Expert DDR5 (2x32gb) 6000MHz - 140 shipped
Phanteks AMP V2 1000w PSU (White Edition) - 90 shipped
NZXT N7 Z790 Motherboard (White Edition) - 165 shipped
Brand New Corsair MP600 Mini 1tb M.2 SSD - 60 shipped (bought this originally to upgrade the storage on my Steam Deck LCD but ended up upgrading to the OLED so never opened it up)
Will bundle the CPU, RAM, and Mobo for 665 shipped
Full album - https://imgur.com/gallery/dXOHhXi

hey, i got parts for my first pwnagotchi and went to install image right away before soldering (so im doing a headless mode) and downloaded 2.8.9 version
first time i booted and configured network, shh worked but bt tethering did not, so when i unplugged and plugged again i couldn't ping or ssh (i changed to new mac in the settings and later set static mac) so i decided to flash again
second time i booted new image i was able to shh and also pwny connected to my phone, but there was another problem, when going to 192.168.44.44:8080 on my phone nothing happened (i didn't know i could go to 10.0.0.2:8080 on my pc browser back then), when plugging in off and on same thing happened, pc recognizes device and network adapter but i can't ping and ssh for the life of it
so i tried formatting and flashing again
and now i can't ping or ssh even on the first boot
thanks in advance
i gave the board to my uncle to solder the pins and to keep it away from me so i wouldn't keep frustrating, i will provide config files and screenshots if you need but dw there were no mistakes in config files nor in network adapter configuration, it just stopped working after being plugged off

Mr. Boombastic What you want is some Boombastic, romantic, fantastic lover Shaggy Mr. Lover lover, mm Mr. Lover lover, hehe girl Mr. Lover lover, mm Mr. Lover lover She call me Mr. Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna me back, she say I'm Mr. Ro-mantic Call me fantastic Touch me inna me back she say I'm Mr. Ro... Smooth, just like a silk Soft and cuddly, hug me up like a quilt I'm a lyrical lover, no take me fi no filth With my sexual physique, yah know me well built Oh me, oh my, well, well, can't you tell I'm just like a turtle crawling out of my shell Gal, you captivate my body, put me under a spell With your Khus Khus perfume I love your sweet smell You're the only young girl who can ring my bell And I can take rejection, so you tell me go to hell I'm Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna me back, she say I'm Mr. Ro-mantic Call me fantastic She touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boom-boom-boom-boom Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she call Mr. Romantic Tell me fantastic She touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boom-boom Gee whizz, baby please Let me take you to an island of the sweet cool breeze You don't feel like drive, well, baby hand me the keys And I'll take you to a place, and set your mind at ease Don't you tickle my foot bottom, (haha) baby please Don't you play with my nose I'm a (ha-chum) sneeze (bless you) Well you a the bun and me a the cheese And if me ah the rice and baby love you ah the peas I'm Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Ro-mantic Tell me fantastic She touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boom-boom-boom-boom Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she call Mr. Ro-mantic Tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boom-boom A me say give me your loving, gal, your loving well, good I want your loving, gal give it like you should Give me your loving, girl, your loving well good I want your loving, gal you remember the woo Would like to kiss and caress Rub down every strand a hair 'pon my chest I'm Boombastic, rated as the best The best you should get, nothing more, nothing less Give me your digits, jot down your address I'll bet you confess, when you put me to the test That I'm Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Ro-mantic Tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boombastic Tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she call Mr. Ro-mantic Tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boombastic, wha Gal, your admiration, it a lick me from the start With your physical attraction, gal you know to feel the spark A man of few words, nah go tell you no sweet talk Nah go laba laba laba and a chat pure part I'll get straight to the point like a arrow or a dart Come lay down in my jacuzzi, and get some bubble bath Only sound you will here is the beating of my heart And we will mmm mmm, and have some sweet pillow talk I'm Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Romantic Tell me fantastic She tickle on my back, she says I'm Mr. Boom Boombastic, tell me fantastic Touch me inna my back, she says I'm Mr. Romantic Tell me fantastic Touch me innna my back, she says I'm Mr. Boom Wha' ya say girl? Smooth

I'm trying to replace a spark plug and ignition coil on my 2008 honda odyssey. I was able to get the old plug out in the old ignition coil. Then Install the new spark plug but when I go to install the Ignition coil, it doesn't sit all the way down to the point I can put on the bolt to screw it in. This is my first time and I'm hoping I haven't borked anything.

We have a 91 Lebaron that is around 60,000 original miles however the previous owners informed us the ODO was unplugged during brake servicing and never plugged back in (unsure if this was guesswork on their part). If this is true, how can I reconnect it? If this is just a stretch, I am more than happy to throw some money in to ensure the longevity and integrity of this awesome car.

Two weeks ago, my engine and traction control lights on 2012 Camry came on while driving, and the mechanic did a bunch of repairs — spark plug, ignition coil, ball joint, and maybe something else.
Car has run fine since then, but today I was driving, and both lights came on again. I wasn’t at a place I could stop immediately, and both lights went off after 10-15 seconds.
I was 3-4 miles from home and got home without a problem. I didn’t make any other stops.
Any ideas what might have caused these lights to come on when I just had all these repairs done? Mechanic won’t be open again til Monday. Do you think I’m OK to drive it for my usual trips tomorrow— church, gym, grocery store?

Hi Reddit. This is my first ever post and a throwaway because I don't want this to get back to her. I don't even know really where to start. I should give some context, so here goes nothing. My sister, we'll call her Gabby, has only ever had one boyfriend her entire life. She met her boyfriend, we'll call him Marvin, in high school. They've been together ever since and eventually got married. When Marvin stepped into the picture, Gabby started acting differently towards her friends and family. She stopped hanging out with her friends and became snappy with the family. I figured this was typical teenage behavior. Over the years, her and my relationship grew distant, as I never really thought Marvin was a good fit for her as he made her mean and isolated her from the things she once loved (she stopped hanging out with her friend group she was once constantly hanging out with, started making mean comments and jokes directed towards me even though we were once close, etc). Anyways, fast forward to a year after they're married. They're trying for a baby, but they are still living with family. Despite living with family, they refuse to disclose any personal life details with the family. Weird, but okay, you're an adult. They ended up buying an old house that needs to be completely renovated without telling anyone that they were even thinking about buying a house. Anyways, they have their child, and they wanted everyone to get shots before meeting their child. We all complied. We asked to hold their child and they refused, which I respected. They said that we would be able to hold their child when she was a bit older. She is now more than a few months old and they still refuse to let anyone hold her. Whatever, they're allowed to parent the way they want to parent. This story is so complex and forever ongoing that I don't even know where to begin with it. There have been multiple instances where the slightest thing anyone in my family does sets Gabby off. For instance, there was a piece of furniture that my mom let me use that was just in their basement being unused that once belonged to Gabby. This upset Gabby so much that she, an adult in her 20's actively trying for a baby, rolled around the floor screaming and ripping out her hair. I had to restrain her from harming herself over this. When I asked why this escalated to the point it did, I was told that it was truly only over the furniture, nothing else. There are many other instances like this which only started when Gabby met Marvin.
Since Gabby and Marvin married, Gabby's relationship with our mom has significantly deteriorated. Their relationship had been strong up until that point, so this came as a shock. It has been really hard on our mom. Gabby will call/text our dad, but ignore the calls/texts from our mom. So we know that this action is deliberate. For context, there's nothing that ever happened between the two of them that would have sparked this behavior. No big fight, no major viewpoint differences, nothing. However, Marvin has always had a rough relationship with his mother.
Anyways, The biggest thing that happened recently that led me to write this post revolves around a mothers day. Last year, Gabby did not acknowledge mothers day at all. She didn't call/text/send flowers/ do anything for our mom. Radio silence. This year, Gabby is a mother. My mom gave Gabby a very nice mothers day gift, which she did not thank her for, and Gabby only acknowledged the date by sending a group text message. I don't want to go too far into detail to keep my identity hidden, but this really upset my mother.
I did not say happy mothers day to Gabby, but this was not an intentional act of malice. I worked 12 hours that day and really only thought mothers day was for your own mother. I guess some people acknowledge all of the mothers in their life, but I only acknowledged my own mother. This really upset Gabby and when I tried to explain my view, she didn’t want any of it. I apologized, but the call ended with feelings still heightened. She has since stopped returning my calls/texts/DMs. It's been almost a week since this happened.
I recently found out that Marvin and Gabby had stopped communication completely with Martin's side of the family. This was seemingly also an unwarranted decision on their part - a family member got so worried that they weren't returning calls/texts that they drove out to see them and check on them (mind you, they live hours away) just to find out that the lack of communication was intentional and that they were no longer speaking to their family.
It seems like every time I see Gabby/Marvin, something that I do sets them off. They always have a reason to be upset with me. When I try to explain my actions, they don't want to come to a resolution and see eye to eye, they just want me to apologize and admit that i'm wrong - even when I don't feel like what I did was wrong. I feel like i'm always apologizing for things that I don't need to be apologizing for and that they dictate everything in the mess of a relationship we do have. I am all for setting boundaries, but she won't communicate her boundaries and then blow up on you when you violate them.
There's so much more to this story I could literally go on and on.
Essentially, I fear that Marvin is painting Gabby's family and friends in a way that makes her want to cut us all off. Gabby doesn't have any friends outside of her husband besides a few people she sees at religious events. Gabby doesn't talk to my mom, and now isn't talking to me. I fear that she may be in an abusive relationship due to the fact that ever since Gabby married Marvin (her first and only boyfriend) she has become more and more isolated.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Gabby also is the primary breadwinner and ALSO the primary caregiver to their child.
I don't know what to think of this and I know that this post is scrambled, but I'm all ears to what the people of reddit have to say about this situation. I will try and provide more context if necessary in the comments, but do you think that Gabby is in an abusive relationship and that Marvin is isolating her from the people who love her? Or what do you think is going on?

Ok, so, I used to live in a different state during my childhood than the one I live in now (I live in the Northern US, originally born in this northern state as well). I lived in this other state from the ages of 6 until I was almost 16, and throughout the entirety of my elementary and middle school years up until the middle of 9th grade (which was at the high school, some start at 10th grade instead of 9th).
There were 2 main bullies that I dealt with starting in 1st grade/first school year after moving to this state, and as the years went on, these two girls (let's call them Marie & Clarisse) would get their friends in on bullying me. I wasn't popular by any means, but my mother always had me in sports and extracurricular activities with these girls, so I could never really escape them. It was just as bad outside of anything school related as Marie has two younger brothers that my brother was friends with, so I had to pretend to be the 'best of friends' with Marie from 1st grade up until about the end of 7th grade since our families drifted apart from being "close friends".
As far as typical bullying goes in elementary school, I dealt with constant name-calling and cruel "pranks", mostly aimed towards my weight, I wasn't fat, but I wasn't skinny either despite being in sports and was always active. However, those incidents extended to my stuff being stolen, like my notebooks I'd use for schoolwork, or my box of pencils/pens/etc., forcing me to constantly borrow from the few friends I actually had or from the teachers. I used to be in band (which started in 6th grade in that school district), and I played the clarinet, my stepdad had bought me a very nice/sturdy and somewhat expensive tote bag to put my clarinet, music stand, and music binders in for easier storage and to keep my hands free when transporting my 'equipment'. Us band kids were allowed to keep our instruments behind the curtains of the stage in the school's cafeteria (the stage was against the farthest wall from the kitchen/lunch lines), and out of the ~20 kids in band, only my expensive/sturdy tote bag was stolen within the last 2 days of 6th grade, of course suspects were Marie & Clarisse (I saw Clarisse using my tote bag that summer, as my now-smudged name had been written in permanent marker on the straps and one of the sides of the bag). I left it be because I didn't want any conflict, my stepdad bought me another one after finding out the original one was stolen in the first place.
Middle school wasn't much better as the name calling got extensively more graphic and consisted of slurs (like the F slur, as I'm proudly part of the LGBTQ+ community, specifically AgendeNon-binary), furthering the self-hurting thoughts that had started in 3rd grade. I had continuously tried to tell my mom and stepdad about it, only for my pleas for help to go unheard until one week during the winter season in 7th grade. I had gotten sick for 2 days and stayed home an extra day to recover, but during those three days, Marie, Clarisse and their friends had made an Instagram account, posting very unattractive pictures of fellow classmates (i.e. purposely taking pictures with very unflattering angles, poor lighting, etc) and blamed it on me since they put my address in the private information into that account. My mom had found the account, immediately asking about if I was the one behind it, she unfortunately didn't believe me until *after* she ripped my phone from me to look through it for "evidence" that I made the account. When I returned to school the following Thursday after recovering from the small cold, I was constantly bombarded by fellow students about the account since Marie & Clarisse were the ones that spread the obvious false rumor that I made it. By the end of the day, I had finally snapped, yelling "I didn't make that f-cking account. Why can't everyone just stop bothering me about it?" Of course, that earned plenty of attention from the teachers and students within earshot (and thanks to the tiled floors and walls, my yelling echoed throughout most of the first floor and partly into the second floor of my school), I ended up having to talk with the counselor about the whole ordeal because of my frustrated outburst, which resulted with very little help from the staff, but after a few weeks, people seemed to forget that the account even existed since it ended up deleted within a few days after my outburst.
That following school year, 8th grade, was even worse. Sure, the slurs, the other name-calling and thievery of my belongings continued (more so the slurs/name-calling), but by this year, I was almost constantly committing the self-hurting since my mother was of no help, my stepdad was sympathetic but always working and the therapist my mother found for me was basically a deadbeat with bullying situations (she didn't seem to understand or even want to actually help me with the bullying as she was more of a family therapist than anything else). For the district curriculum, we are required to take health class in 8th grade, and as we were going over the unit that encompassed depression, self-harm, and su!c!dal thoughts/actions, I constantly had to have another staff member in the back of the classroom to watch over me and take me out of the class if any of the course material triggered an episode. Thankfully the staff member was that was there for me was the school's police officer, let's call him Officer Lennox, he was like a protective older brother, especially after finding out about how consistently I was bullied. Near the end of the unit, we had to watch Ronan's Escape (it's on YouTube), and since I was going through my own version of Ronan's situation, I ended up breaking down sobbing in class, only to be laughed at by some of the boys that were close friends with Marie & Clarisse. Officer Lennox snapped at them as professionally as possible while helping me out of the classroom to go sit with the nurse to have some downtime to stop sobbing before I was allowed back to my classes.
Another situation, which is the worst of it in 8th grade, was this one girl, let's call her Ava. She thought it would be hilarious to eavesdrop into my conversations with my best friend (we'll refer to her as Raven since that was a nickname she used) throughout lunch and shared classes, only to take our conversations completely out of context in order to string up a lie that Raven and I were planning to unalive the principle. Of course, this wasn't true, the principle was an a-hole to everyone, and Raven & I would discuss that we greatly disliked him. Ava mostly got away with spreading this lie as her mom was a higher-up in the school district, forcing Raven and I to entirely change our class schedules so we weren't in any classes with Ava, as well as almost being expelled. Thanks to Officer Lennox sticking up for both of us, we only had to have in-school suspension for 3 days instead of being expelled. Sadly, Ava got very little repercussions from this, but Raven and I grew even closer as best friends after "The Incident" as we still refer to it as almost 10 years later.
Summer rolled through without a hitch, leading to 9th grade, the start of high school. I was given more freedom from my mother (she's a helicopter parent and abusive/narcissistic) to dress in clothing that I preferred in comparison to always wearing brightly colored athletic wear. I completely changed my appearance, chopped my hair from just above the small of my back to a punk pixie-styled cut, and started wearing graphic t-shirts, ripped jeans, combat boots, and leather jackets. On top of that, I started becoming more confrontational/combative towards my bullies, since they still wouldn't let up, I earned a "bad@ass/bad b!tch" reputation, made friends with other rebellious and misfit types of people in the grades above me, and just fully became more of "me" despite the disapproval from my mother of the amount of change I undergone.
Despite being 14 at the start of 9th grade, I began dating, specifically one fellow student that was a very close friend and felon, he went to jail/juvie throughout the 2nd half of 7th grade and all of 8th grade. He came to the high school 3 months after the year started, and our friendship-turned-relationship sparked right back up as if he never left. I had kept my dating life secret from my family, mostly my mother because I know how bad her reaction would've been if I told her. With him almost always by my side (excluding classes we didn't share), my brand-new appearance, and my quickly attained delinquent/rebellious reputation, most of my issues dissipated much quicker than before. In spite of that, Marie & Clarisse kept making their remarks, trying to drag down my new confidence and constantly break my felon boyfriend (let's call him Collin) and I up. They got more degrading and verbally abusive with these antics, I eventually was completely fed up with it all. In the middle of the school year, within a couple weeks after Yule (Christmas for the non-pagans) & New Years Break, Marie, Clarisse and their group of friends had stopped me in the hallway, purposely surrounding me (there was about 30 of them in total) on my way to class, continuing with their shtick as usual, I slipped the pocketknife out of my pocket, flicking it open as I finally gave in and threatened to unalive them and everyone they care for if they don't leave me the f-ck alone. They saw the opened knife and knew then & there that I was 100% serious, I turned on my heels, shoving through them only to notice the principal and school's police officer (not officer Lennox) staring at me with concerned expressions, they also noticed the knife as there was a glint from the blade due to the blindly bright lights in the hallway. Not a word was uttered as they walked away, never sending a call to my mother or stepdad about the weapon or the confrontation as they had seen my progression in attitude and the amount of f-cks I had (which was none). After that day, those girls never spoke to me again, would barely glance in my direction, would purposely take alternate routes to class if they saw me in the hallway (or would keep to the wall if they couldn't move quick enough), and if we shared any classes, they'd be on the opposite side of the room from me and would do everything they could to never be partnered/grouped with me in class projects.
Everything was smooth sailing from then on, and now I'm 22 (as of late April this year), happily living with my bio-dad, my brother and my 2-year-old kitty, Ziggy. My mother is out of the picture entirely as she refuses to change her mindset and parenting style. I'm still confrontational towards anyone that tries messing with me, especially if they're anti-LGBTQ+/racist/abusive/etc. And thanks to my continuation of my drastic change from 8th grade to 9th grade, I'm now considered both the protector and the therapist to my friends, always there for them because I grew up knowing what it was like to not have that kind of support. I hope this story of roughly half my life can provide some sort of comfort or proof that it does indeed get better, even if it doesn't seem like it in the moment.

My battery gauge drops voltage whenever I brake at a red light, what could this mean? My truck doesn’t run the greatest and I probably need a tune up with coils and spark plugs. Also, what does a purge valve solenoid do? From what I’ve read, I should replace that first. TIA.

So I have a 5.4 that’s in a 08 f250. It’s a piece of shit but I want to keep it running long enough to engine swap it. Everything around it is solid. So I went ahead and changed everything spark plugs coil packs upgraded injectors fuel pump fuel filter and it seems I’m having a problem with to much fuel now. In the beginning it was I wasn’t getting enough so I changed it all to new now I can’t figure out why it’s burning so much. No codes come up at all and runs fine but idles high. Any suggestions other than it already being a ticking time bomb?

I have recently lost all faith in the justice system, and it feels like law and order is just a farce. My step father is a monster, and a sociopath, and no matter how hard I try I cannot get anything done. My mother married my step father when I was ten years old, and he began grooming me when I was eleven. Walking around naked and saying it was natural. Making me watch adult movies with him, then escalating to making me watch child p*rn. And then he started to sexually assault, and r*ape me when I was fourteen. And It kept going all the way up to when I was thirty-two. I know that sounds hard to believe, but he controlled our whole lives. I couldn’t get a job so I had no money. We didn’t have any friends. Our family wasn’t allowed to visit. He would tell me that the problem with calling the police is a lot can happen between when you pick up the phone, and they arrive. That it only takes a second to pull a trigger, or to push in a knife. That the sounds people would make when they were stabbed in the chest, would get his heart racing. He would clean his guns when he was angry, often mock pointing at me and pulling the trigger. I sometimes wished that the gun was loaded so I wouldn’t be trapped with him anymore. But worried for my mother. He started to physically abuse my mother too, so we were trapped. When I was younger he would toy with me making me do things like drink anti-freeze, but said it was game. I guess at eleven years old you don‘t know any better. Over the past few years he has begun to get more violent, and started down the anti-government route. Saying stuff that he will be the spark of the revolution. That he will bring this whole thing down. He bought a plate carrier vest (bullet proof vest), for ”when it all goes down”. He has been amassing an arsenal of guns, and recent started to acquire stolen firearms. What he would do is get close when an elderly person who has firearms registered to them, take them, and then tell the police that he “disposed of them” or a “buy back program” so they wouldn’t have to worry about them, and then keep them for himself. He has over 300 firearms, which I have a complete inventory of, as well as the stolen firearms. I know that sounds like a made up amount but there was safes in every corner of the house full of guns. Which he was only one that had keys too. He has been stockpiling ammunition as well, green tips/black tips, hollow point, tracer rounds which all together would be close to 1 million rounds, which I have pictures of. He has has a few hundreds pounds of gun powder, and knowledge of the anarchist cookbook. He claims to be a navy seal, often wearing navy seal shirts, and other clothing, bragging about it to people. But we got in contact with NCIS and the national archives which said he was only a marine for fourteen months. So that was all a lie. I recently was able to leave for the sole reason that I lost my mother. I do not even know if foul play was involved, I just had to leave before I was next. So I was able to escape with the help of family. But now scared that no one is there, what could he be doing? He kept saying how he has the means, that he will be remembered. That he will lead the charge, ignitting the fires of rebellion. I have reported and filed out police reports for a total of four different states police, as well as the FBI and ATF. I have even reached out to my local congressman, because they say they can intervene on your behalf for federal agencies. But all his office said that they submitted a tip as well. I have evidence, other people have submitted reports against him too, but nothing is happening. I keep checking the news, scared that one day I will see his face and that he blew up a government building or took down a plane which he has access too since he works at an airport. I am begging people that he is a danger to the community, that not only is he a pedophile but he will make Timothy McVeigh look like a choir boy. He is a monster, he likes to hurt people, he most definitely will hurt people, and I cannot get anyone to help. Everyone Is more interested in agendas then safety. It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when. He will kill hundreds of people and no one will stop it. God help us all.