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natduskfall · 4 months

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The Beginning of the End

Contains negative "critique", or more precisely, my thoughts and observations, of the newest story quest. Might be interesting, might not be.

Fripp says that the spymaster’s squirrels have reported three Drakonium shipments being simultaneously abandoned. And that’s it? Couldn’t they also tell us who abandoned the shipments, and if any Dark Riders were spotted? And how did they not notice that the abandoned shipments were empty?They must know what a full shipment looks like, what types of containers Dark Core uses. They must have noticed the goons taking the shipments to unusual places, maybe they even spy on G.E.D.‘s mining operations, and see Dark Core loading the shipments. They must know the usual routes. They also could have checked to see if there actually was any Drakonium nearby.

It bewildered hen Alex yelled at everyone to stop. Like chill Alex, we’re just having a discussion, we’re not about to attack each other.

Linda’s comment about there being six of us confused me a lot initially, because there’s only 5 of us soul riders, eight of us if counting Fripp, Avalon, and Evergray.

Alex discourages Anne from creating portals, but is okay with her performing an allegedly hard and elusive spell nobody has mastered or performed in a very long time?

“I won’t bother you anymore with my jumbled thoughts.” …… brother in Aideen you just told me you had some thoughts to share with me. I really wish I could spend more time with Fripp, talk more with him. He might be such an amazing character if there was more to him.

“The future of Jorvik rests on your shoulders.” Gee, thanks.

The “Fripp teleporting away” cutscene was very weak.

I honestly was under the impression that the Drakonium shipment trap was set up to allow Dark Core access to the Library, so they could get to the Brambletween. I had not realised that there is now an army of druids there. So now I wonder why Fripp walked out on us when he didn’t need to go back to protecting the Library.

When the runestone appeared from the ground I thought it was the island itself trying to talk to me. I was a little disappointed to find out that it was a message from the druids.

Also, why did Alex and Anne waste time going to the Singing Yew to talk to me rather then just texting me and going straight to Valedale.

The Drakonium is already all unloaded from the trucks, even tho the Dark Riders want to take it further towards Valedale. And how are Lisa’s healing and Linda’s visions supposed to do anything to stop the Dark Riders?

How big is the Drakonium blast radius?

I’m so glad the writer had Alex ask such an interesting and valid question.

I honestly am conflicted about about the Oil Rig. Android or human, I still feel sorry for the goons. And what about other workers, like Lisa’s dad, or maintanance divers? But also, shouldn’t the Drakonium have been teleported to wherever G.E.D. mines it?

I think that Dark Core can already sue the pants off the druids for destroying and stealing their property.

I actually felt worried that Mr Sands might have died or been hurt. Then I thought that maybe he had been suffering for some years under Garnok’s influence, and this way he could be free, and Darko could take over. And then I was relieved that nothing happened to Mr Sands.

Mr Sands must have other oil rigs, he is an oil tycoon. I still wonder if he had the foresight to stop any drilling that might have been going on on the DC rig (If there was any), so that he wouldn’t lose the oil.

It was cool to see the hostility between the Dark Riders. I always had a feeling like they might actually hate working with each other, and that their working relationship might be strained.

Cool, so the Gate/portal is actually called the Hadal Gate. I wonder if Darko was working on it. It’s a shame it got destroyed.

I really thought the ending cutscene was happening in Wildwoods, but I suppose it’s not. The animation of Sabine swinging the hammer was kind of whack, but the animation Erissa had when she jumped out of the portal???? And her idle???? CHEF’S KISS. But the difference in quality of the cutscenes in one quest that takes a few minutes to finish is jarring.

Now I wonder where Erissa’s Dark Horse is, and what happened to the one Darko made.

I don't like how the writers introduce these new concepts, such as spells, rune warning messages. New rules. Things that are useful for only that one quest, and are never mentioned again. It's nice to have more material for fic writers, but it also would be nice if those spells and concepts would reappear. They either change their mind and abandon that concept or direction, or they forget, or it takes them so long that they're now going in a completely different direction and that thing they introduced is no longer needed or canon.

Overal, I think it was a somewhat okay quest. I think the writing was meh. So were the cutscenes. But I'm just glad that things are slowly moving somewhere. I'm elated that we finally have the fourth Dark Rider, and that they finally showed us some behind the scenes stuff going on with Dark Core. I'm glad they let Dark Core get the upper hand, or also progress with the story.

I wonder if SSE has their game documented. I don't know much about gamedev, but apparently developers use their own wikis to teep track of factions, items, characters, places, narratives... everything in the game. And It seems like SSE either doesn't have one that is up to date, or they just don't have one at all from the previous years, and are now working on a new one?

The name of the quest has me wondering if SSE is perhaps itching to wrap the main story up fast, so they can focus on the horses, outfits, and tack. That is a scary thought.

#why did it take me so long to write this oof #sso #sse #star stable online #sso dark riders #sso erissa #sso fripp #sso story #sso update #sso main story #sso critical #sso drakonium #the beginning of the end

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ciderwitch · 2 years

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Wait, did I hear "Kabu kinks" because I'm down!

(I thirst for that fiery old man) *insert bad pun here about being hot and bothered*

You're darn tooting! Kabu - and Nanu to boot! 🔞

KABU'S KINKS

If you'd met him when he was younger, you'd have seen his more hot-blooded and intense self. He was more into quickies and fiery adrenaline-fueled sex after a battle. Outside of that, he was too focused on training and battling to take his time.

Now, he knows that patience can be its own reward and loves spending lots of time with his partner. He's into teasing and orgasm denial for both himself and his partner. He'll have you begging before he really gets serious and forces himself to hold out until you come first.

Bondage - Shibari, specifically. Kabu loves the precision and artistry of tying his partner up and puts a lot of value in the trust required for this. He is well-versed in a variety of knots and rigging. He wouldn't mind if his partner wanted to tie him up, too, though he would prefer not being suspended.

Sensory play! When he's got you tied up (or when you're just fooling around), he loves waxplay, ice, toys, feathers, and other sensations to heighten the sensory of intimacy. He wants to blindfold his partner and see how much he can make them fall apart. He's actually quite playful and tries to make sure intimacy is light-hearted.

Well-dressed kink. He's a classic man with classic tastes and he loves seeing his partner in something of good taste. Suit or dress, if you are done up the nines he just wants to get you home and make you a mess. Could tease this man at a league event or nice dinner just by the glances and quick touches you throw his way. Let it slip with that you're not wearing anything underneath (or that you have some of those ropes around you underneath your clothes) and some of that fiery nature might slip back in enough to have you on your knees in the bathroom!

Seriously, if you find the right buttons and push, you will find yourself shoved against the gym lockers with his cock drilling into you at absolutely unfair speeds. He'll be chastising you and talking mad dirty the whole time.

Not quite a daddy/master type or into punishment, but likes giving orders and doling out rewards.

It would embarrass him to admit this, but the idea of you playfully degrading him and/or financially domming him a little excites him. If you two discuss terms first and he trusts you, you could have this man getting himself off while you show off a new outfit you bought with his card.

KAHUNA NANU'S KINKS

I don't think Nanu would be a selfish lover. Nor would he be cold. He's just extremely careful about who he does and doesn't allow himself to get close to.

If you are one of the lucky few that reaches that point, you will find someone very dedicated to your satisfaction.

He's been in special forces and he's been around the world. He's met royalty, spies, soldiers, villains, and monsters... does he love it if you dress up? Sure! But his absolute favorite thing is casual intimacy. Seeing you comfortable with him and having a slow fuck on a rainy day together makes him very happy. His better mood when you're around is noticeable to everyone.

That being said...

He's got a possessive streak. Not as strong as someone like Emmet, but enough that he will not hesitate to pull you into a semi-public alley or beach-changing station and just have a quickie. Sometimes you wonder if he might actually want you to get caught by whoever was trying to take your attention away.

He trusts you. He also just wants to make sure everyone knows you belong to him.

Hard-core domesticity kink. He wants his partner to be independent and successful, but sprinkle in moments that show you care and he's gone. Jokingly tell other people he's your husband, make a holiday meal with him, wear a cute little apron, call the meowths your children... He is not a family man, never wanted to be and never thought he could, but something about the way you treat him like he deserves it makes him go nuts. If he was 10 years younger it might turn into a straight up breeding kink, but as he is now he just wants to bend you over the counter and let you know how he feels.

If you ever wore cat ears and a tail, you would catch him staring. His face would never betray how badly he is thinking about you wearing cat lingerie around the house and ignoring him.

Like, him begging to touch you or lend him a hand but you just open your legs and watch some porn and just looking at him with a smirk. He would never ask you to do this. You would only find out by accident if he was really drunk or left the wrong tab open.

He's not a selfish lover, but he really does love when his partner rides him. He'll still touch and pleasure them, he just likes to see how bad he's wanted, too.

Absolutely leers at you if he finds a new way to fluster you. Will not hesitate to do something in public because he knows how to be subtle enough to not get caught and embarrass you at the same time.

#pokemon x reader #pokemon x reader smut #kabu x reader #nanu x reader #pokemon smut #🔥#🧶#pokemon headcanons #officer nanu #gym leader kabu #nsft #smut

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sohkrates · 9 months

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RIG Cover Art Reveal

By Galen Pejeau

Galen did the first pass of the dead core art which you can see in the early previews of RIG, and then blew me the fuck away with this cover art.

If you wanna find out more you know the drill: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/notwriting/rig-0

#indie ttrpg #mechmonth #solo ttrpg #ttrpg #mecha #soulslike #art #digital art #galen pejeau #ttrpg art

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sso-maev · 4 months

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Story quest thoughts!!!

Biggest impression I got from the quest is that the team has a direction for where they want to take the story. Which like finally. The quests being called “beginning of the end” really signifies to me that they’re not gonna keep stalling with the story anymore. The stakes are going up and it really feels like we’re nearing the end of the main story quests, at least the story we’ve been following.

Speaking of stakes, omg we actually bombed the DC headquarters. Went over this in a previous post but like. Sso has NEVER made a previously permanent area inaccessible. Im gonna miss the platform and emo crust-Justin (Gone but not forgotten❤️) but honestly? This was such a great way to make the scale of the battle so much larger. Also it does make sense to me that the HQ never actually drilled for oil. Dark core has other establishment that I’m sure were actually doing legit business, but since all the workers on the oil rig are robots anyway and it’s the location of the portal, it makes sense that they reserve the HQ for just the magic shenanigans.

Anne never hesitating to use her powers in the most dangerous way possible will never cease to be funny to me. Go queen commit whatever atrocities you need to. But I honestly think everyone was pretty well written in terms of dialogue. Anne takes a major risk with her powers, and it results in her getting the revenge she wanted. Alex isn’t only used as an engine for comedy, and I really like the bit where she expresses remorse for leaving us to face the dark riders on our own. Linda gets a lot more screentime than I expected, and she really reminds me of her book counterpart in these quests. The DR have nearly killed her so many times and she’s just not afraid of them at this point. She has this confident assertiveness to her that we don’t really see as much when she’s talking to friends, outside of short quips. Lisa is the only one who didn’t get that much through these quests, but I’ve kind of gotten used to that at this point. I can project my headcannons onto her regardless

Surprisingly I was also really fond of the soul horses this time! Concorde and Tincan had some really nice ominous foreshadowing to their dialogue (Runestones hasnt been used since WHAT dark times Tincan???????) and both Meteor and Starshine had some fun dialogue

The DR are always just so great. You don’t understand I love Jessica more than anything in this world. Her telling Katja to “do the thing” and it’s just them riding over an already iced river is absolutely wonderful. And oh my god the ENDING. Its so cinematiccccc. Mr sands is back after what. 7 years?? Insane. The three hits on the tree, the glowing red runes of the hammer, Sabines full name of general Malumi, Erissa sommersaulting out of the portal LIKE. The questline was short but it was so packed with new story developments. The soul riders think theyve won while the dark riders welcome their fourth general come onnn.

So Darko is dead right? Like if they were gonna bring him back they would at this point. I do wish they found a way to integrate him here, and if not that introduce him earlier in the game. I don’t really care that much about him as a character, but him being introduced as relevant, killing Elizabeth and then never being talked about again isn’t really the conclusion I want.

But overall I really liked the quests. Everyone felt in character, we got really impactful cutscenes, and the story is progressing in a way thats both natural and really exciting. I can’t wait to see whats gonna happen now that the HQ is gone and the dark riders are complete.

#sso #star stable online #star stable

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mariacallous · 11 months

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Few people on Earth have reached closer to its center than Buzz Speyrer, a drilling engineer with a long career in oil and gas. It’s about 1,800 miles down to the core, smoldering from celestial impacts that date back billions of years and stoked to this day by friction and radioactivity. That heat percolating upwards turns the rock above into a viscous liquid and beyond that into a gelatinous state that geologists call plastic. It’s only within about 100 miles of the surface that rock becomes familiar and hard and drillable.

Right now, Speyrer’s equipment is about 8,500 feet below us, or about 2 percent of the way through that layer, where the heat is already so great that every extra foot, every extra inch, is a hard-won victory. Down there, any liquid you pumped in would become, as Speyrer puts it, hot enough to deep fry a turkey. “Imagine that splashing you,” he says. At that temperature, about 450 degrees Fahrenheit (228 degrees Celsius) his gear can start having problems. Electronics fail. Bearings warp. Hundreds of thousands dollars worth of equipment might go down a borehole, and if it breaks down there, make sure it doesn’t get stuck. In that case, best to just plug that hole, which probably cost millions to drill, tally up your losses, and move on.

Even when things are going well down there, it’s hard to know from up here on the Earth’s surface. “It’s frustrating as hell,” says Joseph Moore, a geologist at the University of Utah, as he watches the halting movements of a 160-foot-tall rig through a trailer window. It’s a cool day in 2022, in a remote western Utah county named Beaver, a breeze whipping off the Mineral Mountains toward hog farms and wind turbines on the valley floor below. The rig looks much like any oil and gas installation dotting the American West. But there are no hydrocarbons in the granite below us, only heat.

Since 2018, Moore has led a $220 million bet by the US Department of Energy (DOE), called FORGE, or the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, that this heat can be harnessed to produce electricity in most parts of the world. Geothermal energy is today a rare resource, tapped only in places where the crust has cracked a little and heat mingles with groundwater, producing hot springs or geysers that can power electricity-generating turbines. But such watery hot spots are rare. Iceland, straddling two diverging tectonic plates, hits a geological jackpot and produces about a quarter of its electricity that way; in Kenya, volcanism in the Great Rift Valley helps push that figure to more than 40 percent. In the US, it’s just 0.4 percent, almost all of it coming from California and Nevada.

Yet there’s hot rock everywhere, if you drill deep enough. Moore’s project is trying to create an “enhanced” geothermal system, or EGS, by reaching hot, dense rock like granite, cracking it open to form a reservoir, and then pumping in water to soak up heat. The water is then drawn up through a second well, emerging a few hundred degrees hotter than it was before: an artificial hot spring that can drive steam turbines. That design can sound straightforward, plumbing water from point A to point B, but despite a half-century of work, the complexities of engineering and geology have meant no one has managed to make EGS work at practical scale—yet.

Moore is trying to demonstrate it can be done. And in the process, maybe he can get more entrepreneurs and investors as hyped about geothermal as he is. Renewable electricity generation, whether from sun or wind or hot ground, typically offers steady but unremarkable returns once the power starts flowing. That’s fine if your upfront costs are cheap—a requirement wind turbines and solar panels now generally meet. Geothermal happens to require a risky multimillion-dollar drilling project to get started. While clean, dependable power derived from the Earth’s core can complement the on-again, off-again juice from wind and solar, there are safer underground bets for those with the expertise and financing to drill: A geothermal well might take 15 years to pay for itself; a natural gas rig does it in two.

No surprise, then, that there are 2 million active oil and gas wells worldwide, but only 15,000 for geothermal, according to Norwegian energy consultancy Rystad Energy. Nearly all are hydrothermal, relying on those natural sources of hot water. Only a few are EGS. A trio of operating plants in eastern France produce only a trickle of power, having drilled into relatively cool rock. Then there are hotter experiments, like here in Utah and across the border in Nevada, where a Houston startup called Fervo is working to connect two wells of its own, a project that is meant to provide clean power to a Google data center.

Moore believes FORGE can make EGS more attractive by showing it’s possible to go hotter. Every extra degree should mean more energy zapped into the grid and more profit. But drilling hot and hard granite, rather than cooler and softer shale that gas frackers like Speyrer typically split apart, isn’t trivial. Nor is drilling the wide wells required to move large volumes of water for a geothermal plant. Thus, a chicken-and-egg problem: The geothermal industry needs tools and techniques adapted from oil and gas—and in some cases, entirely new ones—but because nobody knows whether EGS will work, they don’t exist yet. Which is where FORGE comes in, playing a role Moore describes as “de-risking” the tools and methods. “Nobody is going to spend that money unless I spend that money,” he says.

In Beaver County, his team is testing a bridge plug—a cap, essentially—that will seal off a section of pipe so that water can be forced into surrounding rock with enough force to crack granite. It’s late morning and a dozen water tankers are parked in imposing formation next to the rig. Around lunchtime, they’ll test whether the plug can hold the pressure, and before dinner should fire “the guns”—small explosive charges—to perforate the pipe. Then they’ll push in the water to split the rock in time for a midnight snack—“if everything goes smoothly,” Moore says.

In other words, a pretty standard frack, the technique that has flooded the US with a bounty of natural gas over the past 15 years. But don’t use the f-word too liberally, please—it’s rather taboo in geothermal, even though the industry’s future may depend on the technology. The sensitivity is not just about the association with fossil fuels. Frack in the wrong place, over some hidden fault, and the earth can tremble with damaging intensity.

The team is closely watching data recorded by eight geophones—acoustic detectors that pick up seismic waves—hanging in nearby boreholes. So far, the only clear signal is that it’s really hot down there. A few minutes before the start of the pressure test, John McLennan, a chemical engineer co-managing the frack, arrives in the trailer with bad news about a pair of geophones.

“Both of them have failed,” he says. “Just can’t handle the temperature.”

“I’m too old for this,” Moore replies.

It had been a long few days. It wasn’t supposed to be a 24-hour operation, but here they were, delayed by high winds and malfunctioning equipment, another long day and night ahead. Now he’d lost a pair of crucial ears telling him what was going on beneath the surface.

While the FORGE team preps for the frack, Moore and I drive into the Mineral Mountains to see why geothermal energy has thus far fallen short of its potential. We stop at the perimeter fence of the Blundell Geothermal Plant, which sits a few miles from FORGE, on the eastern edge of a hot zone stretching hundreds of miles west to the Pacific. The appeal of the location is obvious. Near the site, fissures in the rock reveal places where hot water has burbled to the surface, carrying minerals that hardened into rivulets of crystal. A few hundred feet away, sulfurous clouds rise from the soil around a 19th-century shed where cowboys and miners once took hot soaks.

The plant, which is owned by Portland-based electric utility PacifiCorp, was built during a geothermal boom during the 1970s oil crisis. But by the time its turbines began spinning in 1984, energy prices had fallen and the boom was already fading. The vast majority of US plants operating today still date back to the 1980s—a painful fact for a geothermal enthusiast like Moore. His own journey in the industry began around that time, as he transitioned away from an earlier career prospecting for uranium deposits—itself then a waning industry—that had initially brought him to Utah from his native New York City.

He considers Blundell especially underutilized, pointing to turbines that could be upgraded to produce more energy and spots where PacifiCorp could drill more hydrothermal wells. “It’s just risk aversion,” he says. “They say, ‘I can’t see what’s underground, so I’m skeptical about drilling.’” (PacifiCorp did not respond to requests for comment.)

Only a few companies are exploring new hydrothermal locations. One of them is Reno-based Ormat Technologies, which owns and operates more than 20 geothermal plants worldwide. Paul Thomsen, the company’s vice president for business development, tells me how Ormat established its business by purchasing existing plants and updating their turbines to draw more power from the same hot water. More recently, drawing on its experience with everything from drilling to plant operations, it started building new plants.

But it’s tricky to pick winners, even when there’s an obvious hydrothermal resource to exploit. Desert towns in the American West have rebelled against proposals out of concern groundwater will be drained away. And wherever biologists look in hot springs, they have found unique species deserving of protection. Stack that on top of lengthy permitting processes and challenges with connecting new plants to the grid, and options dwindle. Ormat has had recent setbacks at two of its proposed sites, over groundwater near the Nevada site of Burning Man and over the tiny Dixie Valley toad, a species recently listed as endangered.

The challenges of natural hot springs have made creating artificial ones all the more appealing. In 2006, the DOE, along with researchers at MIT, issued a report describing a plan for making geothermal a major contributor to the US grid to help meet climate goals. The flexibility offered by EGS was at the heart of it. Although the depth at which rock gets hot enough varies—shallower out in the American West than on the East Coast, for example—the scientists reckoned it could be reasonable to drill for heat in most places, either to produce electricity or, at lower temperatures, hot water to warm buildings.

In 2014, the DOE started looking for a place to serve as a testing ground for repurposing tools from oil and gas, and, four years later, picked Beaver County as the experiment’s home. Soon afterward, the agency calculated that geothermal could satisfy 8.5 percent of US electricity demand by 2050—a 26-fold increase from today. All that was missing was proof that EGS worked.

The Forge well descends straight down for about 6,000 feet (1.8 kilometers), reaching granite about two-thirds of the way there before making a 65 degree turn and going nearly 5,000 feet (1.5 kilometers) farther. Among Moore’s passions, enthusiastically demonstrated with hand motions and napkin diagrams, is the internal “stress field” of the granite that determines how it will crack under pressure.

Understanding that stress field is essential. For an efficient power plant, the cracks must extend far enough for water to move efficiently between the two wells—but not too fast, says Teresa Jordan, a geothermal scientist at Cornell University in New York, where she is leading an EGS project aimed at heating campus buildings with geothermal water. “You want it to take its time, spending a lot of time in contact with rocks that will heat it up,” she says. The cracks must also deliver as much water as possible to the second well—and not into hidden fissures along the way—and also stay hot for years of use. Hot rocks can cool to tepid if cold water pumped in soaks up heat faster than the core’s heat can replenish it. Vanishing water and dwindling heat have played a role in past EGS failures, including in New Mexico in the 1980s and in southern Australia in 2015.

Those risks have sent others looking for different approaches, each with their own tradeoffs. One, a “closed-loop” system, involves running sealed pipes down into the hot rock and then back to the surface, preventing any water from draining away underground. But it has proved tricky to get enough heat into liquid that doesn’t touch hot rocks directly. Or maybe you drill really deep—say, 12 miles down—where temperatures can exceed 1,650 Fahrenheit (900 degrees Celsius), enough for the heat to rise straight to the surface up a single well. But the tools to drill at such depths are still experimental. Others think existing oil and gas wells are the answer, saving on drilling costs and unlocking the industry’s abundant tools for its own wells. But the narrower wells used for extracting fossil fuels aren’t built for pushing the vast volumes of water necessary for a power plant.

EGS proponents argue designs like FORGE strike the right balance, adding enough heat and flexibility over traditional geothermal, while being able to take advantage of oil and gas methods, The newest EGS experiments are enabled by advances in horizontal drilling and better fracking models, says Tim Latimer, CEO of Fervo, which is working with FORGE as it develops its own EGS project in Nevada. He tells me he thinks that the projections energy investors use to estimate geothermal drilling costs—ones that make them hesitant—are 15 years out of date. During the drilling of the first FORGE well, he points out, the team demonstrated it could halve the time using a new, diamond-tipped bit, cutting overall costs by 20 percent.

Around 3 pm, after our walk around the Blundell plant, Moore returns to the drill site and sees McLennan jogging over to greet him. He has good news. First up: The plug has held under pressure. Moore lets out a big breath, hands on hips. “I’m glad that’s over with,” he says. Later, after the guns are fired and water pumped in, a “seismic cloud” of tiny quakes picked up by the remaining geophones, suspended at lesser heat and depth, indicates that the cracks extend about 400 feet from the well—the right distance to connect with the second, future well that will draw newly heated water up to the surface. A third piece of good news is that the seismic cloud couldn’t be felt on the surface.

That’s especially good news to Peter Meier, the CEO of Geo-Energie Suisse, a geothermal energy consortium. He traveled to Utah from Switzerland mostly to listen to the geophones. In 2006, a 3.1 magnitude quake occurred after engineers on a Swiss EGS project attempted to create a water reservoir that was too large and disturbed an unmapped fault, damaging homes nearby in Basel. (A geologist faced criminal negligence charges for his role in the quake, but was later acquitted.) Local governments in Switzerland have been wary of EGS operations since.

In 2017, an even bigger quake triggered by an EGS project in South Korea, which injured 82 people, dimmed the concept’s prospects even further. But Meier believes those earthquakes were due to poor planning on the part of engineers—avoidable, with more careful study of the rocks. He sees FORGE as a chance to rescue the reputation of EGS by demonstrating it working safely. “Until we have a success story it’s a discussion about fracking, because basically, it is fracking,” he says.

This spring, Moore returned to Beaver County to drill well number two. After nearly a year of reviewing the data from the initial frack, he felt confident that the production well, drilled straight through the cloud of cracks from the frack, would succeed in getting water back out. Earlier this month, he was proved right: Nearly 76,000 gallons went down the first hole at a rate of about 210 gallons per minute, and came back out the other end hotter. A full-scale test in 2024 will get the flow rates closer to those required for commercial EGS plants, which should cycle more than a thousand gallons per minute.

Part of Moore’s confidence was that he knew he was playing on easy mode. By design, the two wells are too close together to draw up substantial heat for a power plant—the point at this stage was mostly the tools and techniques financed and tested along the way. Prior to the test, Moore was excited to tell me about the new gadgets available for creating the production well, including particle drilling, in which rock is eaten away by shooting small, high-velocity metal balls; a rotary drilling system that they could steer from the surface; and upgraded, more heat resistant geophones.

In the end, all three were less useful than Moore had hoped. The particle drilling and steerable system turned out to be more trouble than they were worth, especially compared with the earlier success of the diamond-tipped bits. The modified geophones still fritzed beyond about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius); Moore says they’ll eventually switch over to heat-proof, fiber optic-based devices. But that’s the point, he says, of “de-risking.” Sometimes it’s helpful to see what breaks.

There are other reasons to feel hopeful. A few days after the FORGE connection, Fervo released results from its own 30-day connection test in Nevada. The result, according to Latimer, is “the most productive enhanced geothermal project ever completed,” producing enough hot water to generate about 3.5 megawatts of electricity. The boreholes were drilled near an existing hydrothermal plant that has room for more capacity, and will produce power by the end of the summer, he says.

“We’ve shown that it works,” Latimer says. “Now the question is how quickly can we bring it down the cost curve.” That includes getting hotter. Fervo’s Nevada wells peaked at 370 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius)—hotter, he points out, than any other horizontal oil and gas well in the US—and hot enough to prove that its own tools can go a bit hotter next time. There are also crucial questions about drilling, he adds: the optimal distance between the wells, the angles, the depth. “It’s not like software where you can iterate quickly,” he says. The industry needs more experiments, more projects, to figure out the most productive combination—each of them bound to be expensive and difficult.

More opportunities to iterate are likely coming. The US Inflation Reduction Act has poured money into green energy infrastructure, adding incentives to geothermal development that put it closer to existing ones available to wind and solar. Meanwhile, the DOE upped its goal for geothermal electricity generation in 2050 by 50 percent, to 90 MW, based in part on improved prospects for EGS technology, and in February announced that it would spend an additional $74 million on pilot EGS demonstrations. None of them are likely to go as hot as FORGE just yet, Moore suspects. “I think we’re going to be looking at temperatures where we know the tools work,” he says. But it’s a start.

Some might try to use that warmth for direct heating, like Jordan’s project at Cornell. Others might drill at the edge of proven hydrothermal areas, where the heat is more accessible. And there are other, creative approaches to maximize revenue. Fervo and others have proposed using their wells as batteries—pumping down water when the grid has excess energy and then bringing it back hot at leaner times to generate power—or building plants alongside power-hungry facilities like data centers or future carbon removal plants, avoiding the challenges of connecting to an overloaded power grid.

Scaling up from there will require much more investment. And the degree to which investors—especially in oil and gas—will pick up the baton remains to be seen. This year, Fervo picked up a $10 million investment from oil and gas company Devon Energy, a pioneer of fracking. Last month, Eavor, a closed-loop geothermal startup, announced BP Ventures had led its latest funding round. “It’s gone from zero to something,” says Henning Bjørvik, who tracks the geothermal industry at Rystad, the energy consultancy. But oil and gas is still as much a competitor—for equipment, expertise, and land—as it is a friend to geothermal, and commitments to clean energy can prove fickle when fossil fuel prices start booming. What investors need to see, Bjørvik says, is that this embryonic industry can scale to hundreds or thousands of plants—with enough potential profit to outweigh the risks of any individual project going south.

The way to do that, Moore believes, is to keep showing how things can get just a little bit hotter. Completing the research at the second FORGE borehole will exhaust its current DOE grant in 2025, but he has applied for new funding to drill wells that are further apart—and, of course, test new tools at ever higher temperatures. By then, he’ll have a new neighbor. The rig for Fervo’s next project is already visible from the FORGE well pad—the start of what’s planned to be a full-scale power plant.

If all goes to plan, it will produce 400 megawatts of energy, Latimer says, enough to power 300,000 homes. It was logical, he says, to drill in the shadow of both FORGE and Blundell. The site has been extensively surveyed and has the grid interconnections to move electricity to Fervo’s initial customers in California. The goal is geothermal energy anywhere. For now, it makes sense to start here.

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matrixdrilling · 25 days

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Exploring the Depths: The Role of Geotechnical Drilling in Modern Construction

In the rapidly evolving world of construction and civil engineering, geotechnical drilling stands as a cornerstone technique, critical for ensuring the safety, stability, and success of any infrastructure project. At Matrix Drilling, we specialize in providing top-tier geotechnical drilling services, tailored to meet the unique challenges of each site and project. This article will delve into what geotechnical drilling is, its importance in construction, and how Matrix Drilling leads the industry in delivering reliable and effective drilling solutions.

What is Geotechnical Drilling? Geotechnical drilling is a specialized form of drilling that is conducted to investigate the physical properties of a site's subsurface. This process is essential for gathering vital data that helps engineers determine the suitability of the ground for proposed construction projects. The primary goal of geotechnical drilling is to reduce uncertainty and provide engineers with detailed information about the soil composition, rock profiles, groundwater levels, and other critical factors that could impact the structural integrity of a building or structure.

The Importance of Geotechnical Drilling in Construction Site investigation and assessment are paramount before any construction can commence. Geotechnical drilling is integral in this phase, offering precise data that can highlight potential issues such as unstable soil, voids, or high groundwater levels. This information is crucial for engineers to design foundations and structural elements that are both safe and economical.

The insights gained from geotechnical drilling allow architects and engineers to optimize their designs to suit the specific conditions of the soil and subsurface environment. This can lead to a more efficient use of materials and the adoption of innovative construction techniques that might not have been considered without the data provided by geotechnical drilling.

Moreover, geotechnical drilling aids in risk mitigation by forecasting potential challenges that might arise during construction. This proactive approach prevents costly delays, redesigns, and enhances overall safety. It also plays a vital role in environmental conservation by assessing the impact of construction on the subsurface environment, ensuring that the natural habitat and water sources are preserved or minimally disturbed.

Matrix Drilling: A Leader in Geotechnical Drilling Services At Matrix Drilling, we pride ourselves on our ability to handle the most challenging geotechnical projects with precision and efficiency. Our use of state-of-the-art drilling rigs and technology ensures high accuracy and efficiency in our drilling operations. Our equipment is capable of penetrating a variety of soil types and rock formations, ensuring comprehensive data collection even under difficult conditions.

Our team of geotechnical experts brings extensive experience in both onshore and offshore drilling, offering a depth of knowledge that is unmatched in the industry. This expertise ensures that all projects are executed with the highest standards of quality and safety.

We understand that every site is unique, which is why we provide customized drilling solutions designed to meet the specific needs and challenges of each project. Whether it's a high-rise building, a bridge, or a residential complex, we tailor our methods to ensure optimal outcomes.

Safety is at the core of everything we do at Matrix Drilling. We adhere to strict safety protocols to protect our team, the public, and the environment. Our operations are conducted with minimal environmental impact, preserving the ecological balance of the areas we work in.

Last Word: Geotechnical drilling is more than just a preliminary step in construction; it is a fundamental practice that supports the entire building process from conception to completion. At Matrix Drilling, we understand the critical role this service plays in ensuring the success of construction projects. By leveraging our advanced technology, extensive expertise, and a commitment to safety, we provide our clients with the confidence that their projects are built on solid ground. For those looking to explore the depths beneath the surface, Matrix Drilling is your trusted partner in uncovering the secrets that will ensure your project's success.

#drilling company #geotechnical drilling #environmental drilling #sonic drilling

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honourablejester · 5 months

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Numenera Setting Notes: Points of Interest Part I

Just while I’m reading through the core Numenera books (Numenera: Discovery and Numenera: Destiny), plus the Ninth World Guidebook, I figured I’d keep some notes on bits of the setting that immediately jumped out to me. You know. Bits and bobs that would immediately make me want to set a story in or around them, or little details that just make me happy.

Starting from the core book, Numenera: Discovery, and a little bit from the Ninth World Guidebook, and just going with the Steadfast, the group of kingdoms that are the main ‘civilised’ part of the setting.

Part I: The Steadfast (Numenera: Discovery)

The Amber Monolith, in Navarene, a vast floating crystal obelisk in the sky that the original Amber Pope said contained a teleporter to a ‘numenera edifice floating high above the earth’. A satellite installation? Because an ancient religious edifice central to your setting’s main religion that teleports you up to an orbital facility is not at all ominous.

The City of Bridges, in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, is an offshore capital city for a merchant naval nation that is possibly built on an ancient mining rig. The city is series of anchored metal platforms linked by bridges, including bridges linking back to the mainland, and several of those anchored platforms having what might be ancient drilling machines at the top. And, just, maritime port city with a sailor king that’s built on an ancient mysterious mining facility, there’s nothing wrong in that sentence at all.

Castle Sarrat, in Draolis, which is a self-sufficient, self-expanding building that was taken over by a noble family with a martial bent and immediately started growing. As in physically. As in the building is growing upwards and just sprouts new corridors, rooms or entire storeys every so often. So a) I am getting Gormenghast vibes, and b) it’s your own personal self-growing megadungeon.

The Fourth Mark, an ancient coastal tower in Draolis, because: “That old eyesore gets its name from a legend my grandpappa told me. Folks from that time says there was, back then, more of ’em— four to be all exact. All of ’em standing watch over the firth there. Called ’em the four marks, like they’s marked some special spot or some such. They also says that some folks a-came from across the sea and entered each of ’em, one at a time, and when they’s done, each of them towers sunk into the sea. But when they got to the last one, somethin’ scared ’em outta there. They left it, and there it stands still today.” Very Formorian, Subnautica, who were the people from the sea, and why did this facility, of the four, abruptly resist entry and go dark? (Interestingly, later on we find out that the Eldan Firth, the bay that the Marks are built around, does have an intelligent octopus civilisation in it, ruled by the Octopoidal Queen, which really makes me want to get my pulp sci-fi on in this high science fantasy setting over here)

Rachar, in Iscobal, is a city built entirely inside a prior-age ruin, because then you have a lot of buildings already pre-built to just take over, but there’s also a significant amount of ruined-prior-age-city weirdness knocking around like talking statues, moving walls, misfiring energy fields, etc. There’s a massive hovering ancient vehicle of some kind permanently parked over the city, which is inoperative but used as a lookout post. Also, for fun points, there’s a plaza called the Gelatinous Pavillion which is covered by a canopy of ever-shifting coloured gel, which is just fun.

Rarmon, in the Pytharon Empire, is a city defended by an orrery. A massive metal orrery of the solar system sits within the city, and it can be raised up above the city and the giant electromagnet within the mini-sun can be used as a defensive weapon slash death ray. By the 3ft tall engineer named Garrot who’s in charge of the orrery. This is all excellent.

The Weeping Wanderer of Milave: “An ancient automaton wanders the roads of Milave, damaged and asking for help. However, the fluids it leaks are debilitating and hallucinogenic to humans”. Sidenote: I do like the sidebar each kingdom gets with the ‘hearsay’ and ‘weird’ of the kingdom, you get lovely little gems like this.

The Transparent Palace, the home of the Ancuan king. I just like glass, and an entire castle made of stronglass pleases me. I also like the detail that Ancuani people ride rasters, which are giant biomechanical bat-creatures, and you can have entire pirate groups swooping down to battle on them. The book is clear to note that the Angulan Knights, the Steadfast’s paladin-esque order of protectors, fly on xi-drakes, giant white dragon/dinosaur/pokemon looking flying reptiles, so if you have a battle between a group of xi-drake mounted Angulans and a group of rastar-mounted Ancuani pirates, it’s … a sight. White knights on dragons vs pirates on cyborg bats. Ancuan as a kingdom just really wants to be the cover of a heavy metal album, and I do love that for them.

Kaparin, a coastal city in Ancuan, the home of the Redfleets, a ‘crew of vagabonds, thieves, scientists and other miscreants’, who sail the seas (in both ships and submarines) in search of natural, as in non-numenera treasure, and maintain a maritime museum. They’re basically a roving criminal gang of marine biologists and oceanographers, which is the wildest and best set of words to put together, and I’m in love.

Sea of Secrets. “It’s said that somewhere to the far south is a city frozen in solid ice, reachable only by a stout ship and a brave and experienced captain.” I am a simple woman and I’m always up for frozen polar cities reachable only by sea (or air). Especially in a science fantasy universe like this.

And then one more Steadfast location from the Ninth World Guidebook:

The Canyon of Blades in Pytharon. It’s a canyon full of 15ft tall razor grass that can and will cut you to ribbons, and is tough as all hell to boot. Which. I do love some plants making life difficult for everyone. But. The thing that tickles me is that there’s a village in the canyon whose people just use stilts to get around it without getting themselves shredded to pieces and/or having to spend endless hours trying to hack their way through it. They use the stilts to hunt kolod, little armoured creatures that live in the grass, and the detail that really tickles me is that the village has an Aeon Priest (techpriest) who is desparate for someone to talk to about anything that isn’t kolod hunting. I mean, ideally science and numenera, like in his job description, but honestly any non-kolod related conversation will do. I love him already. His main job in the village is just repairing the stilts. He’s so tired. I love him. There’s also a mercenary company nearby who got themselves permanently semi-time shifted by a nano a while back, so they’re constantly shifting between the present and 30 years ago, and while in the past they’re trying not to influence things, but also they’re impatiently waiting for the previous aeon priest to invent the stilts, and she hasn’t yet, so now they’re wondering if they’re supposed to be doing a Scotty from Star Trek with his transparent aluminium on it and give her a hint. Which is just fantastic.

I’m liking the coastline, I am noticing this. But if you’re in a wonderous science fantasy world littered with the ruins and vast incomprehensible objects of prior lost civilisations, there’s just something about maritime mysteries. Ancient oil rigs/mining platforms turned cities, strange towers that alone of their sunken brethren resisted their purpose, lost polar cities across the oceans to the south. And you can’t give me an entire fleet of pirate oceanographers and expect me not to jump at them?

I also just really enjoy the tendency of this setting to have entire powers and polities and towns centered entirely around one single weird edifice or effect of ancient science-magic. Every town or village or city you go to has its own unique bit of weirdness, without even getting into all the random bullshit out in the wilderness like telepathic faces in cliffs and ominous monoliths that drink rivers and looming Atlantean towers that refused to sink.

I’m getting my full dose of awesome weirdness out of this setting, and it’s making me very happy.

#numenera #setting notes #ttrpgs #worldbuilding #i'm enjoying this setting very much

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rogue-durin-16 · 2 years

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MY STUPID, STUPID HERO

Summary: when the fate of the world and the lives of his loved ones are at stake, Eddie Munson decides to stop running away. Thankfully, he's not alone.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Henderson!Reader

Genre: fix-it fic (angst w/ happy ending)

Tags:

Eddie Munson: @kozumewhore here's my not so little fix-it fic

Permanent taglist: @elia-the-bibliophile @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog @amourtentiaa @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @comfort-reads

Warnings: blood, depiction of wounds, language, violence, fire, st vol 2 spoilers

A/N: I love canon but I love rigging the plot in favor of Eddie's safety much more. I'm also working on a little Eddie x Chrissy fix-it bc a girl has to cope. Idk what else to write here, I'm just traumatized. Enjoy <3

Rogue-durin-16 masterlist

Eddie's deafeningly loud guitar did not muffle the violent stammering of my heart; if anything, it was the other way around.

It was a bad plan— a horrible plan made in a couple of hours by a bunch of shaken-to-the-core teens who were taking their last shot at defeating something they barely understood.

I shouldn't even be there; when those things happened, I was usually the one to cover up for the lot while they were missing, but something about this time was it different —darker.

I guess that's why they didn't oppose when I halfheartedly volunteered to be the ninth member.

It wasn't like I wanted to, either —I wasn't exactly a fighter—, but what was I supposed to do when my fourteen year old brother was about to enter the Upside Down and fight an otherworldly evil? Let him go by himself? Fuck no.

Plus, Eddie was going in, too.

Maybe it had happened over one of those chilly winter afternoons I had spent tutoring him because Dustin had begged me to do so. Or maybe it had been that time he had nonchalantly quoted an entire 'Lord Of The Rings' paragraph without batting an eyelash.

Eddie. In which exact point I had fallen for the endearing mess of a person Eddie Munson was, I didn't know.

Maybe, just maybe, that one time he had fallen asleep on my shoulder after pulling an all-nighter was to blame. Or the oddly specific compliments he threw at me across the cafeteria. Or the hug he had engulfed me in after we had found them at Reefer Rick's boathouse.

Maybe it had been all of the above, or maybe it was none; it didn't really matter. The point was that they were walking straight into their death, and I couldn't just sit still and watch.

So there I was, gripping the trailer's door with one hand, and the metallic mesh drilled to the vehicle in the other, holding both open as if my life depended on it —and it did—, feeling them juddering to Eddie's cover of 'Master Of Puppets'.

I didn't hear Dustin's T-minuses, but I did see the demobats in the horizon getting dangerously close. They were too close, and Dustin and Eddie were still on the fucking roof.

'Stick to the plan', Steve had ordered, but it was difficult when I believed the plan to be an absolute fuckup.

Just as I was about to cross the camper's threshold, a series of thundering hits from above made me come to a halt.

Thud. Please let it be them. Thud. Bang. Cling.

Boom.

Dustin's form dropped in front of me. Fast as lightning, I took a hold of his attire and, stepping aside, I impelled him into our barricade.

"C'MON C'MON C'MON!" An adrenaline ridden Eddie who had been shoving my younger brother, clutched the sleeve of my jacket, yanking it for me to enter with him as soon as the mesh was locked.

A high-pitched scream tore from my throat when two— three— five demobats viciously collided with our fence while my digits were still securing it, making me stumble backwards. Lucky me, Eddie was still behind me, so instead of tripping, I was briefly lifted from the floor, leather-covered arms quick to snake around my middle and pull me deeper into our safe haven.

"Holy SHIT! that was a close one." He breathed, shutting the trailer's front door and putting the latch on it, one of his hands never letting go of my jacket. "Y/n, did you hear that?!" Eddie exhaled a relieved laugh.

"Dude! Most. Metal. EVER!" Dustin jumped excitedly, staring at Eddie in adoration.

"Are you two mad?!" I chided them, giving the older boy a not so gentle shove, something that put a concerned frown on his face. "The hell took you so long?!"

"Uhhh Eddie's riff?!" Dustin puffed with an proud beam, drawing my attention to him.

"Eddie's r— you could've DIED!" I shrieked, smacking the back of his neck.

"Hey, we're safe and sound here!" The long-haired senior piped up with no hostility whatsoever, only raising his voice due to the demobats battering against the boarded up windows. "Don't take it out on the kid, I got carried away!"

"You can't get 'carried away'!" I rebuked him. I felt myself getting riled up, and I was almost certain that it had little to do with Eddie losing himself to his guitar solo and a lot to do with being pinned down by interdimensional monsters.

"Y/n! I get you're stressed but—"

"No!" I warned my younger brother with a menacing index finger. "You're the kid and he's the adult." I turned to Eddie, whose hands were already raised in surrender at my angry demeanor. "You call the shots, Eddie! You can't just..." his eyes flickered with something similar to... guilt, which made me instinctively tone down the reprimand. "I'm—"

THUMP!

Silence.

I shared a taken aback look with Eddie, argument forgotten in favor of listening closely to the sudden peace outside the Munson's house.

"Hey dipshits!" I jumped at Dustin's shout, throwing daggers at the boy. "You give up that easy, huh?!"

"SHHH!" I hushed him.

"Was that really necessary?" Eddie bitterly added, worry being read in his face.

"What's—" I pointed the spear at a small circle nearly above my head. "what's that?"

The peace was soon disturbed by claw-like steps over our heads.

"They're on the roof." Eddie announced in a low tone, cueing the three of us moved in sync back-to-back, shields slightly tilted in the ceiling's direction and spears ready for an imminent attack.

"A vent." Eddie response was accompanied by his forearm gently pushing me to walk back.

"They can't get through that," Dustin whispered from behind us. "can they?"

No sooner said than done.

I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for having such a quick reaction time; as soon as the coverage of the vent came off, my spear impaled a demobat.

Dustin's was just as good; between horrified screams and gibbered curses, we kept them at bay until Eddie situated himself between us and the aperture. I didn't have time to verbally question his actions, since, in the blink of an eye, his shield was being nailed into the ceiling by sheer force.

"Damn." I breathed out exhausted. My widened, impressed eyes found his. "Good call."

"Thanks." He probably didn't even notice the way his face briefly lit up at my words, but neither did I acknowledge the small smile dancing in my parted lips.

"Do you have more vents?" Dustin's ominous inquiry made Eddie's cheerful visage fall, his shoulders tensing up. His reaction was certainly a response— just... Not the one we hoped for.

"Fuck." He muttered, walking backwards with a sorry look on his face. "Fuckfuckfuckfuck." He repeated, stretching his arms out to me just as I threw him my shield and doing a 180 as soon as he had it secured on his hand.

"Climb up right now!" I ordered the youngest of us, vaguely gesturing at the tied sheets hanging between worlds before following Eddie's lead.

"But—"

"DUSTIN, CLIMB!"

Even though we raced to the room, we were clearly not fast enough; a heavy 'clonk' was heard on the other side of the door.

Knowing the risk was higher than the possibility of success, I tried to pull Eddie back, but the boy was quicker and more resolved than me.

The air got caught up in my throat at the nightmarish sight. If Pandora's box was real, it would look like that room.

"FALL BACK!" I tried once more, this time successfully since Eddie himself seemed to realize there was no use on trying to cover the vent instead of fleeing.

"To the gate!" He urged me, shutting the door and staggering back, shield high, facing the place where we were coming from until the very last second, in which we found ourselves having to follow Dustin into our world.

"C'MON, GUYS!" The freshman vociferated, seeing us right under the gate.

"You first." Eddie gestured at me to move closer to him, letting his weapons fall to the floor in order to help me up.

I gave my friend a fearful look while he got down on one knee, finders interlaced for me to plant my shoe on them. "You better hurry." I warned him, voice trembly from the adrenaline.

"I'm right behind you." He reassured me. With a grunt, he propelled me up far enough for me to go through the gate without much effort.

With a muffled thud, I was back in Hawkins —our Hawkins— lying on my back, eyes fixed on an upturned Eddie who... Had stopped climbing.

"The hell's he doing?" I mumbled at Dustin, who was kneeled down beside my head, focused on the exact same thing as me.

"I... I don't know." the younger kid rised to his feet. "Eddie, c'mon!" Our friend looked at some unknown point at his left. "What are you doing?!"

His left. Propping myself up with my palms, I let my head mirror Eddie's movement, searching for what was stopping him from joining us.

But I saw nothing, apart from... the room's door.

"Oh no." It was a soft, dreadful whisper, the one that accompanied my realization.

Dustin's yells for Eddie to climb couldn't quite reach my ears, as the only thing I could hear was that damn conversation Eddie and I had not even an hour earlier.

"Here." I stood on my tiptoes half way through the ladder, arm stretched at a crouched Dustin, who stood on the trailer's rooftop, passing him the buddle of leads for him to connect to the amplifiers. "Eddie said this one" I wiggled the red wire in one of my hands.

"Is for the big one, yeah." Dustin finished, taking a hold of them. "I'm not a child, Y/n, I know where to plug each lead." He explained in a brazen tone.

"You're a smartass, that's what you are." I retaliated, shoving his head back and consequently making him fall on his ass, which earned me a whine and a couple of insults.

"He's got an attitude." I commented, noticing as I climbed down Eddie's amused smile at the bottom of the ladder.

"Seems like it runs in the family." He teased, his grin growing wider at my vexed expression.

"Excuse you?"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He laughed, letting go of the ladder's base once I had hopped off it.

"You better be." I exhorted him, wiping my hands on my pants with a quirked brow. " 'Cause I'm, y'know, armed," I pointed at the bowie hanging on the side of my belt. "so you wanna be nice to me."

"Oh, your benevolent majesty," he kneeled before me, taking my hands in his —something that, unbeknownst to him, made my skin tingle and heart skip a bit—, "spare my life, I beg you."

"Alright, your life's been spared." I chuckled, giving his hands a gentle tug. "On your feet, my brave hero." His face, carefree and jovial mere seconds before, dropped into a distant frown which he quickly attempted to hide. "What was that?"

"What was what?" He feigned confusion as he got up, a laugh that left his lips parted aiding his lie.

I tried not to lose eye contact while I crouched to grab the ends of the leads I had just handed to Dustin, but Eddie could be very elusive when it came down to these topics, so his eyes were averted as soon as he had the chance to look away.

I furrowed my brows, backtracking to my latter sentence in order to decipher what had bothered him. "Is it because of what Steve said?" He shrugged, ambling around, gaze casted down. "He said that because—"

"He doesn't want us to take any risks, I know." Eddie finished my sentence, toying with the pick around his neck. "I just—" he sighed, throwing hus head back. "I dunno, it be nice to be a hero at some point, I guess." He cleared his throat, muttering the next words for me not to get them. "Or at least not a coward."

"Eddie, c'mon." He gifted me a forced smile and, taking the leads from my hands, entered the trailer.

"EDDIE!!" Dustin's broken scream brought me back to reality.

"I'm buying more time." He resolved with a nod.

Time seemed to mock us during the following few seconds, elongating them and therefore making the course of action much more frustrating.

My body had shot up, hands clawing the knotted sheets in order to start climbing, just for my back to hit the mattress a second after, when the metalhead's spear slashed the fabric with a scream. Mouthing a 'sorry' to us, he took back his shield and disappeared from our line of vision.

"WE HAVE TO GO BACK— W-WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Dustin's pitch was desperate while he ran around the trailer, searching in vain for something that might help us save Eddie.

My buzzing mind was working just as hard as my younger brother's. Lucky me, I found a solution sitting right in front of my eyes.

My body was most likely in autopilot while I got up to put the remainders of gasoline Steve and Robin had left unused in a single container before throwing it up the gate.

"What are you doing." Dustin halted, coming to me while I dragged a chair to stand below the gate, the part of the makeshift rope that remained in our reality in my hand.

"Rolling the dice." I stated, sparing the teary eyed boy a resigned glance whilst climbing onto the chair, tossing the clothing as an aid to go back without breaking a bone. "Wait here."

"Y/N NO— WAIT!"

THUD!

It took me a hot second of groaning to rise up and get to work; a hot second in which Dustin decided to follow me into a certain death. I should have seen that coming.

"DUSTIN!" I helped my brother up, momentarily forgetting we were in a rush after hearing him wince.

"I'm okay." He lied, eyes shut in pain. "What's the plan?"

I opened my mouth, about to scold him and assure him there was no plan, about to beg him not to get involved, but we knew each other too well for him not to know what I was about to say.

"If you tell me to stay back, I'll flip out."

"I..." I cursed myself, fighting the urge to curl up in a ball and cry because how was I supposed to attempt this with my brother nearby? With a sigh, I took a step back, grabbing the gasoline from the floor. "Count to ten. Then go get Eddie and hide."

"Where are you going?!"

"To the roof!" I trotted to the entrance, only looking back once my hand was gripping the knob. "Hey, smartass! I love you, okay?"

It took him a silent instant to connect the dots, and, even though he didn't comment on it, I knew he knew, and that pained me so much.

"Y/n—"

"Go get him!" I cut him off, sprinting out, down the stairs and to the ladder.

Once I got to the top of the trailer, I spotted the demobats flying in circles around something, as well as Dustin limping towards that same place, which made me feel sick to my stomach.

Get down to business for fuck's sake, I thought, uncoiling the fuel container.

Pricking up the ears, I caught faint screams that simultaneously made my blood boil and my heart sink, wondering if it might be too late.

No, don't think that.

"Please, let this be worth it," I muttered, my shaky hands pouring the fuel leftovers all over the vines slithering on the rooftop. "Let this be fucking worth it."

After tossing the empty tin away, I dug on my back pocket for the lighter Eddie had gifted me on Christmas.

"I know you don't smoke much," He began, folding his arms over his chest, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "but, uhh, you said you really liked the design and— well, I got more lighters so you can keep that one."

Breathe in. Light it. Breathe out.

Throw it.

As soon as the vines caught fire like dry straw, an ear-piercing screech echoed on the upside down; just as expected, the dark cloud of bats found me much more interesting.

The momentary happiness from my success was rapidly eclipsed by a terrifying truth; the price of that little stunt was going to be my life.

EDDIE'S P. O. V.

I was going to die.

I was going to die a slow, gruesome death, and I would be alone.

You're so stupid, you're so so so stupid.

It kind of sounded like Y/n's voice, like something she would tell me —and Jesus H Christ, I wanted her to tell me I was stupid. I wanted her to scold me and to stop talking to me for a couple of days because I gave her a heart attack, do I ever think, like, at all? And I wanted Dustin to sneak me into their home on the third day to apologize, to tell her that I was, in fact, stupid, that I didn't think ever, that she was always right, and that I loved her.

But that wouldn't happen because I was going to die. At least that's what I thought, until something surreal happened.

The bats that had been restlessly whirling around me, holding me down, suffocating me, digging into my skin with their teeth and claws, shrieked and contorted for a moment before flying away, allowing me to retract my limbs and roll to the side with a gasp.

"EDDIE!!!" Was I hallucinating? Because that was Dustin Henderson's voice yelling my name... While he trotted in my direction. "Eddie!"

Oh, no. It really was him.

"Holy shit..." His voice was shaky when he kneeled by my side, hands moving my vest and leather jacket out of the way to check the bites and gashes —and goddamnit did that hurt. "Can you breathe?" I nodded at the boy, biting the inside of my cheek to prevent the tears from spilling.

He came back for me? Y/n would murder me.

Y/n.

I tried to prop myself up, but the affliction didn't let me do much before wanting to curl up and cry. "W—where's your sister?" I asked in a soar whimper, my heart sinking at Dustin's distressed expression. "Henderson."

His lower lip quivered as he took a quick peek over his shoulder. With a tilt of my head, I too could see the flock of bats fiercely winging its way to my trailer which was... On fire? And—

"Y/n." I choked out, seeing the girl's figure running on the rooftop. My terrified eyes shifted back to Dustin and found him trying to hold back a sob.

This couldn't be happening.

When I saw the monsters start to revolve around Y/n, I used all my willpower to sit up and bring Dustin to my chest, wrapping my arms around him while guilt weighed on my stomach, heavy enough to make me want to throw up.

The sound of a bat slamming atop the trailer made us flinch. Then another one, and another one, and then it felt like it was hailing rocks.

I loosened my arms around the kid for him to witness a miracle if I had ever seen one; the bats were sprawled all around the trailer, and either Y/n was running towards us or I was delusional.

"DUSTIN! Fuck..." Y/n threw herself to the ground, breathless, much like her younger sibling had done. She scrambled to situate herself behind me, gently moving me to lean on her chest. "Help me take of his jacket!"

"W-What happened?" The boy asked, speechless yet compliant at his sister's words.

"They— they just dropped dead." She explained, her fingertips stripping me from my vest with some struggle and a few grunts from me. "Lift his shirt."

"It's... It looks like Steve's."

"Shit— Alright, swap places with me." The boy limited himself to take on the spot of his sister while I did my best to stay upright.

"You're... Not gonna stab me, are you?" I didn't quite know if I meant it as a joke or not, since she was pulling out her machete.

Ignoring my question, Y/n discarded her jacket, tossing it aside; her knitted sweater followed lead, and, to our surprise, she proceeded to remove her shirt, which left her in her bra.

"Woah."

"What the—"

"Shut up, both of you." Y/n demanded, her welled irises flickered at me, using the blade to tear the tee's fabric to create several bandages. "Hold this."

With Y/n's skillful hands, Dustin's help and a series of hisses falling from my lips every time pressure was put on my wounds, I was patched up in no time.

"Okay," Y/n threw her sweater and jacket back on and circled my body, kneeling right besides me. "let's go—" without warning, she tried to pull me up, only to fall back down with Dustin's taken aback yells and a distressed gasp that accompanied my body stiffening.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Dustin scolded her. "You think we can carry him?!"

"You got a better idea?" Though Y/n's question appeared to be rhetorical, Dustin's expression shifted as he pondered our options.

"Guys, leave me here."

"Shut up!" The both of them shouted back in unison.

"Okay I think I got it." The youngest Henderson whispered to himself before getting up with difficulty. "I'll be right back." He declared, tossing my vest and jacket in Y/n's direction.

"Wait!" The girl reached for her weapon and handed it to the freshman, who gave her a puzzled frown. "There's a literal pile of demobats."

"They're dead, genius." He reasoned in a condescending tone.

"We don't know that." She countered as if she was talking to the dumbest person in the world. "Just take it and shut up." With a huff, Dustin obeyed and took off as fast as he could towards the trailer park. "You're a fucking idiot, you know that?" She grumbled, accommodating my upper body against her chest as carefully as possible.

"Me?" I pointed my index finger at myself, tilting my chin up to meet her gaze while she reached for my jacket to throw it on top of me. "Weren't you the one commiting arson on my rooftop?"

"And whose fault is that?" The light banter I was attempting in order to cheer her up banished, leaving room for yet more guilt. "I didn't mean it like that." She explained, regret staining her face. "It's not on you, I'm sorry." Her forearms wrapped tenderly around my shoulders before she leaned forward to bury her face on the crook of my neck. "You're right, I was the stupid one this time." She mumbled, shattering my heart a little when I felt a tear fall on my uncovered skin.

"You saved my life." I pointed out, my ring clad hands traveling up to give her forearms a reassuring squeeze. "My hero." Looking to the side, I was able to meet her watery gaze, as she lifted her face from the safety of my shoulder. "My stupid, stuuupid hero." I added with a toothy grin, which only grew brighter when a soft, bittersweet laugh escaped Y/n's lips.

"Look who's talking." She quipped. "Mister 'I'm buying more time'." She parroted my words, making a bad impression of me. "Fucking Idiot."

"You love this idiot." I teased, making her look away, a reddish hue staining her cheeks. "And this idiot loves you." I finished in a tone serious enough for the embarrassment to leave her face and be substituted by a content gleam. "He really does."

"Even if I lost his lighter?" She sheepishly questioned, motioning at the still burning rooftop with a tilt of her head. She clearly felt repentant about it, but I could only beam at her in surprise.

"You had the lighter on you?"

"Duh! I loved that lighter." She noted, her eyes staring straight into my soul with such fondness that it alleviated the splitting pain of my wounds. "You were very brave, by the way, but don't that ever again."

"I can't promise anything." I joked, making her sigh exasperated, her forehead falling onto my shoulder, one of her hands slipping down to squeeze my bicep.

"This should do!" Dustin spoke, breathing heavily while rushing in our direction, driving a wide wheelbarrow full of bedsheets and cushions. "We'll move you here and then push. And I was thinking" He began, stopping by me to help Y/n get me up. "trying to get you through the gate's gonna be hell, so," He paused, using all his strength to move me; I didn't my best to help, taking laboured breaths to mitigate the pain I was under. "we can carry him to the place where Fred died."

"That's" Y/n huffed, relocating my weight against her to walk me to the makeshift stretcher. "actually very smart."

"Don't sound so surprised, the kid's a genius." I spoke, letting myself fall into the fluffy vehicle with a grunt. "Hey Dustin? I love you, man."

"I... love you too Eddie." The siblings shared a bemused smile. "What's gotten into him?"

"He's in a sappy mood." Y/n whispered in a teasing tone, giving my shoulder a pat. "Might be the loss of blood." She added, taking on the task of pushing the wheelbarrow. "How's your ankle?"

"It's alright."

"You know? This butthead" Y/n leaned forward for me to see her point at Dustin. "threw himself through the fucking gate."

"You did the exact same!"

"Uh no? I didn't fuck up my foot."

"It's not my foot, Miss smarty pants."

My attention jumped from one siblings to the other, finding their bickering as entertaining as any other day. No one would have guessed we had just gone through a near death experience.

Hearing them laugh and periodically check on me, making sure I was doing alright, had me thinking about how smart I had been taking Dustin under my wing, and how lucky I was to have entered Y/n's heart.

God, I really loved them.

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