#Strato Streak

[goshyesvintageads]

General Motors Corp, 1956

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1954 Pontiac Strato Streak

1954 Pontiac Strato Streak, Harley Earl design.

[propadv]

1956 Pontiac Strato-Streak. You'll love our wide-open, spacious 4-Door Catalinas

Source: This Week Magazine

Published at:  https://propadv.com/automobiles-ad-and-poster-collection/pontiac-ad-and-poster-collection/

[iconretrocar]

The 1954 Pontiac Strato Streak Concept, inspired by the Pontiac Catalina, featured innovative design elements like a pillarless structure, swiveling front seats, and unique rear door functionality, with a distinctive metallic green finish later transformed into the iridescent metallic red Strato Streak II.

[vegaduke]

1954 GM Motorama Pontiac Strato Streak concept.

[ell-arts]

Here's a little something I've wanted to do for a while! This was made mostly out of curiosity, as a way to speculate on what colour genetics could've influenced the look of characters we've heard of but were never shown (Elli's dad, Bet and Stratos's sister, why Spheria is not yellow like Sunny, etc)

Some of these look pretty empty, so I will revisit this in the future to add more members to each family tree. These trees are also sprinkled with some oc's and my own headcanons.

Here are a few notes/reasonings/headcanons I have for each family:

Spheros:

My headcanon for the Spheros siblings' father is that his name is Exo Spheros, and his colours were quite dark. Both Exo and Rotunda came from families that were very mixed, and as a result, their children came in a variety of colours. Exo's side tends to have darker colours, while Rotunda's side has lighter colours.

Exo has bright red eyes, while Rotunda has green eyes. The clash of these colours caused a range of muted browns and reds in their children's eyes.

Rotunda's hair was white in the show, most likely from old age, therefore I made it so that her natural hair colour is the same as her daughter's hair colour, in order for it to make a bit more sense as to how her granddaughter (Elliptica) ended up with pink hair.

Partial Albinism is a dormant and recessive gene that runs in Rotunda's side of the family. It's a mutation where only the skin of the individual is affected: their skin lacks pigment and turns out white, while their hair and eye colour retain pigment and inherit a mix of their parents' colours. This mutation has been dormant throughout Rotunda's family line, until it showed its face in Betrayus' colours. Since Rotunda's side of the family has lighter colours, the overall lack of pigmentation has a link with this gene.

My headcanon name for Stratos and Betrayus' sister is Radia Spheros. Along with Betrayus, she has very little resemblance to either parent, precisely because of their mixed heritage. There is a little bit of dark red on Exo's side of the family, and this combined with Rotunda's lighter colours made Radia come out as a muted pink. Radia is the oldest, followed by Stratos and then Betrayus.

Unironically, all the Spheros' siblings have hair that is styled in a similar way to their father's.

Headcanon name for Elli's father is Ellipton (Ellip for short). Unlike Radia's side of the family, Ellip's family had a long line of consistent purples and blues, so these genes are stronger. Therefore, Elli looks a lot more like her father than her mother, and this is also why Elli was named after him.

Pac:

Headcanon that the reason why Spheria is not yellow like Sunny is because Spheria and Sunny are only half-sisters.

Sunny's father had an affair with a red woman before he married Sunny's mother, thus Spheria was born a little bit before Sunny. The affair was a point of conflict between Sunny's parents for a while, but eventually things settled down when Sunny was born.

Unfortunately, at some point Spheria's mother passed away and she was placed in her father's care, effectively making Spheria part of Sunny's side of the family. This is also why Spheria still has an accent; she grew up in a different state far away before she moved in with her father and his family.

Despite not having the same mother, Sunny and Spheria still grew up together and came to see each other as full sisters instead of half.

Zac's side of the family are pure yellows, while Sunny's side of the family have a tiny bit of mixing in their earlier ancestry, but the yellow genes are still strong enough for Sunny to have all of the powers and qualities that comes with being a Yellow One.

Cylindria:

The pink highlights in Cyli's hair are 100% natural and not dyed. This is thanks to a common gene that runs in her family, in which streaks of colours are present in their hair. It mostly comes from Starchild's side of the family, as seen in Granny's case. Elliptica has this gene too, inherited from her father's side of the family.

We never saw Moondog's real eye colours because he wears shades/custom glasses, so I gave him light purple eyes.

Moondog's side of the family is also a little bit more mixed, compared to Starchild's family who has been more consistently pink. Therefore Cyli inherited her black hair from her father and her pink skin, eyes, and hair streak gene from her mother.

Headcanon that Granny's real name is Windsong, and "Granny" is just a nickname that she's more fond of.

Additional headcanon that Granny became the first person in the family to think that their naming traditions have gotten a little silly, and so she strongly advocated for giving her granddaughter a "normal" name as opposed to a hippie name, which is how they ended up with Cylindria (her parents wanted to name her Moonchild instead. Cyli was eternally grateful that Granny stepped in to suggest a different name lol).

Spiral:

We literally know nothing about what Spiral's family looks like, other than a vague hint in one of the Chrsitmas episodes. So for now both his parents are red.

Though I am playing with the idea of giving Spiral a step-father, so that might be added in the future.

General Pacworlder colour genetics:

The more a certain colour is present in a family line, the stronger that colour gene is. For example, if the father's line is pure red, and he has offspring with a blue mother with a mixed lineage, then their children have a 75% higher chance of being red rather than blue or mixed.

Overall, mixed families usually produce offspring with stronger genes because of their diverse genetics. The only downside to this is that their mono-colour genes are weakened. The more a particular colour is present in a family-line, the more likely that offspring may get weaker genes in other areas outside of colour because of the lack of diverse breeding. This is seen in old medieval times when royal families married their cousins in order to keep the bloodline "pure" but it resulted in poor health among the descendants. Aside from this example, it is still entirely possible to have a healthy, pure colour bloodline without inbreeding, because Pacworlders with all kinds of colours are broadly populated across the planet.

More to be added in the future :)

[aggressivenesswhilecrying]

"I saved your life you asshole???"

Summery:

Scott, goes, and tries to have a normal day, really, but in the end, he ends up healing, current co-worker, and apparent boyfriend, joel smallishbeans. What a fun day. What a fun, awesome, day.

Not beta or proof read!!

Tw!! Injuries!! Near death experience!!

(This is a gift fic for the @mcyt-valentines event, and it goes to @deityoftherain!! You had said super hero au, and I really have been looking for a reason to write Joel and Scott, so here you go!!<3)

Smoke bellowed out of the building, curling into the air, dar blc and swallowing anything in it hole. Only truly filling the night sky with even more chemicals. Scott couldn't breath. A mix of panic and other blood rushing emotions filling every inch of him. His stomach turning in knots. 

The watch like thing on his wrist beeps it's panic, loud and clear, and all Scott can see is the smoke and the small, flashing red light from his wrist.

There wasn't any fights today. That's the worst possible thing. No villains spotted, no heros reporting anything during patrol. its a good day. Or, the better term would be, was, a good day. 

He doesn't consider it a good day when he's in civilian clothes, on the outskirts of the city, where there's more corn fields and acres of woods, then there is buildings. Where the roads are all gravel and no one can remember the last time they got fixed. Originally, he wasn't out here for any real reason. When you have possibly one of the best paying jobs in the entire city, well, you tend to just hop in your car, and go somewhere. Scott assumes that's how he got here. Car parked down the road, he had been walking, trying to be kinda humble, yknow? Walk down a gravel road, breath in the dusty air, become just a person, not the only healer in the entire city of hermitpires. Not the guy on the posters advertising the newest medicine. Not the guy who got stalked often just people just...really like the healing guy.

He was trying to be someone again. Trying to be a person. Then, of course, he saw the beam everyone associates with Stratos. A big bad god like man, his power, generally makes him unbelievably strong and changes his physical structure. Taller, generally good looking, Scott won't deny the looks he's spared to the man. But besides the point. There is normally a large beam of light whenever the man switches back and fourth. And well, when Scott sees the light come out of a small, old, barn looking building, and then he can see smoke start to barrel out of it, within moments.

And then he reads the words "hero downed." And well, Scott can't breath. Not as he runs throught the yellowed grass and it cruches under his feet, not as the dry air leaves his throat aching. And certainly not as he bursts open the wooden door, painted over in a bad coat of white.

In the middle of the room lays Stratos. Yet, not Stratos. A short and stout man, and yet he has the curly brown hair and the green streak. The once giant beard, now nothing but a stubble. And the toga he wears lazily draped over him. and in the seconds he's looking at the near dying man. A realization he really doesn't like, hits him. "Joel?!"

That's his boyfriend. The man he's been dating for the last few months, laying against the wall of an old barn. His heart completely stopping in his chest.

Oh, and of course he's freely bleeding from his stomach, that's something important to note. Yeah, dying. What a fun past time.

Joels's eyes are clamped shut, and Scott can't blame him. Stratos doesn't get hurt on the field very often, so in turn, it's unlikely that he has a strong pain tolerance. You need to get hurt a lot, to build up a pain tolerance. That and, getting, what looks to be stabbed, maybe impelled, is designed to hurt like a bitch. And yet he squints open his eyes, looking at Scott with a similar look of surprise, panic, and fear.

"Scott.?! What, what in the world are you, why are you here?!"

Scott clenches his jaw. It's generally against all hero protocol to see eachothers faces. Incase of a face off with someone with a mind reading power, or you're being tortured, the latter much more common, you don't want to give out a heros identity. Leaves a lot of room for danger. And so Scott can feel a sense of pure wrong, swirling in his stomach, snapping and bitting its way up. Leaving an uncomfortable taste in his mouth. But that is the last thing he is paying attention to as he drops to his knees infront of the fellow hero.

"Gods...just. dont move." Scott grits out from between his teeth, lifting up the fabric of his toga, and assessing the damage. It's bad. It's most definitely confirmed that he was impelled from the back, something large, and sturdy in the shape of a cone, straight up. 

In return to Scott words joel instantly tries to ignore Scott. The hands behind him try to push himself up, wobbling, and Scott almost thought he was gonna be able to sit up, at last, that's until his arms actually do collapse under him and he's falling backwards. 

And Scott swears he can't feel his heart anymore as he reaches out his arms, catching the man by the back and setting his down against the wall once more, wincing as he feels the outline of the wound.

"Don't need...don't need your stupid...bluming help" the man grunts out, and Scott can only think to himself how he ended up with such an idiot. "Let me heal you, god damn it!!" Scott barks out, unable to keep his voice steady as he's trying to move the toga, only for the man to once again try and move away. "Who did this to you?! There hasn't been any villains out at all today?!" Scott's voice is still sharp as he tries to pull the fabric from the wound. Joel hissing out his pain in turn.

And Scott attempts to avoid how the man doesn't answer.

Scott decided to lay one arm on the man's chest, pushing him back to the wood, while his other hand lays on his stomach. The faint colorful glow being admitted, finally causing the man to fully open his eyes. And it may be the absolute wrong time, but Scott's heart stops. He'll always admit to having a soft spit for Joel's eyes. The brown with hints of green, wherein looks like light is constantly shinning at them. A beautiful bronze color that leaves Scott swooning each time he sees them properly. Joels eyebrows are scrunched as he leans over Scott's arm to watch the colorful sparking. Before looking up to Scott with a sense of realization.

And when Joel's eyes meet Scott's.  And it feels like a great sweet moment. Different from most times. And Scott just wants to let the panic seep through him. He wants to kiss joel the second he isn't magically sewing his flesh back together. He wants to hold him, to ask him if hes ok, he wants to tell him to never do that again. He want to do so much. Then Joel ruins it of course. Cuz what else would the man do.

"I bluming hate you-" 

In Scott's defense, once you save your boyfriend's life, and then he immediately tells you, that he hates you at work, it's only natural for you to toss a twenty dollar bill at him, and tell him to find his own ride home. 

"SCOTT, I DIDNT MEAN IT, I PROMISE, PLEASE, BABE!!"

Joel's hands hit the door, voice nearly whiney as he attempts to get into their shared bedroom, of which he had been locked out of.

"I SAVED YOUR LIFE ASSHOLE, AND THEN YOU TELL ME YOU HATE ME?!"

"IT WAS THE BLOOD LOSS, BABE, IT WAS THE BLOOD LOSS"

"BLOOD LOSS MY ASS."

Scott would never admit it. But in the end, he had came out to the couch long after Joel fell asleep on it. When the man's hair curled in all sorts of ways, and he huddled up with the small throw blanket, and admittedly awful pillow.

Scott wouldn't admit it, and Joel wouldn't ask why he woke up in their shared bed.

[1boblog]

Pontiac Strato Streak

[sparxwrites]

dreams | memories

cw for referenced minor character death, blood, implied child neglect [ao3]

Joel doesn’t remember anything before Stratos.

Oh sure, he knows stuff. He knows he’s a god. He knows he’s got a son called Hermes. He knows he was born to rule. He knows he’s eleven foot tall and sexy and handsome, no matter what anyone else says. But those are facts, not memories. He doesn’t remember things.

He does have dreams, though.

Some of them are ridiculous. In one, he is a king, five foot something and soft around the middle. He wears a ridiculous purple coat, and lays relaxing on a lawn of green moss in the shade of an enormous multicoloured dome. In another, he is wild, red-eyed, tearing across a strange land with a pack of dogs at his beck and call. In another, he lives in a cave, a hole in a mountain, and his neighbour sells lies and magic crystals. In yet another, there is a man with white hair and one red eye, and they bicker like an old married couple as the build a ship with their bare hands atop a mountain. 

In his opinion, these versions of him are all stupid. Also tiny, weak, puny, and distinctly un-sexy. It’s sad of them, really, to be so obviously inferior to his godlike self.

Not that they’re versions of him at all, mind you – they’re just dreams, just silly little imaginings from inside his very sexy and eleven-foot-off-the-ground head. Like Editor Joel, who also does not exist. Editor Joel is not real. He’s just a fun little joke Joel has with himself, sometimes, and definitely not a little voice in his head that he can hear and sometimes he wonders if this means he’s going crazy and sometimes he wonders if that sad little man is who he really is and the rest of this is all just a fantasy and a lie and maybe he’s the dream and–

Anyway. They’re just dreams.

Some of the dreams, though, are harder to dismiss.

In some of his dreams, there are other gods. He thinks, in the dreams, that they are his family. When he wakes, he tells himself he isn’t sure, and that they might not be real anyway, that he might have just imagined them up, but– in his dreams, he calls them brother, and sister. Uncle, aunt. Mother and father. In his dreams, they are a family, and he loves them, desperately, with all his heart. In his dreams, they are together, laughing and joking, and hugging and kissing, and together and–

They don’t stay that way.

Those dreams end in empty hallways, ruined temples, silence. There is no more laughter, no more jokes. Instead, there is blood – pooling in the centres of rooms, smeared down the halls, streaked across the walls. It runs across the marble in scarlet rivers. There are bodies, too, on the floor of the great hall. They are still, pale, unmoving – still together, but not. Not really, any more. They do not react when he touches them, desperately, when he hugs them close to his chest, when he presses frantic kisses to their cheeks and calls their names in a voice that breaks and cracks. 

They are joking, they must be, just another a joke that he’s not been let in on, another joke he cannot laugh along with. Except this time, there is no laughter. This time, no one chuckles when he cries. This time, the hall is silent.

There’s blood on his hands, too. His knees. His face. His tears cut trails through it, streaking down his cheeks, red to pink to wet spatters on the floor.

Even before he touches the bodies, there is blood, all over him.

(There is a weapon, discarded, in the corner of the hall.)

He wakes up from those dreams half-afraid that they might not be real. That he might never have had a family, might always have been alone. That he might never have had that laughter, those jokes. He might never have known those hugs and kisses.

He’s more afraid, though, that they are real. He remembers the laughter, and who it was pointed at. He remembers the jokes, and who took the sharp point of them in the ribs more often than not. He remembers the kissing, and the hugging, and the togetherness, and who got them – and who did not.

He remembers the blood on his hands, too, clear as memory. And he fears he half-remembers, even in waking, how it got there.

[siriannatan]

Yokai Ryokan - chapter 1

So I sat down and spend most of my day writing and here we are.

Jimmy was glad he regularly exercised. If he didn't he'd never keep up with Gem up the million steps to her family's friends ryokan he agreed to help at over the summer. Not that climbing the stairs was a problem, or the only way, Jimmy absolutely did not mind the harder, full of stairs way. Not with beautiful, lush forest surrounding them and promise of a great view of almost the whole of Sakura Valley (a/n I literally said 'let's be freaking basic' here). At least their bags were going the longer way. "The ryokan used to be part of the shrine, the shrine was actually much bigger several hundred years ago, we have drawings of it," Gem explained as they approached the third torii gate. Apparently, the fifth was the top of the stairs so yay halfway point.

The gates were tall, well maintained and vibrantly red with dark tile on their rooves. As he admired the gate he could swear, just for a second, that he saw someone lounging on top of it. Just for a second. A reddish blur of a person that was gone as soon as he blinked. Was the early summer heat already getting to him? Or was it the myths and stories of mythical yokai and about the valley Gem told him on the bus? No matter the reason he ignored it and quickly caught up to Gem. "That's a lot of stairs," he chuckled and just then noticed she was staring at the top of the gate. "Gem?"

"Nothing, I think I saw a bird," he chuckled back. "We should hurry, who knows how much work Joel already has piled up," she added and Jimmy nodded. 

Even if he chose to ignore what he might have seen he checked the tops of the next two gates. Or one. The final torii led to the Stratos ryokan. And Gem was not kidding about the place being beautiful. Well-maintained, traditional architecture that made his breath catch. From the gate he could see the main building, a two storeys tall, with dark wood and even darker roofing tile. But that was not the most impressive part. The most impressive was the lined by a low but sturdy and secure fence, partially covered by a roof over some tables cliff overlooking the valley where Gem pulled him. 

The view was breathtaking and showed at least most of the thickly wooded valley and the huge lake in the middle of it. In the distance, almost at the other end, he could see faint temple buildings and bright pink sakura trees. "The legend says that once upon a time the whole valley was sakura trees," Gem said. "There's the town," she pointed to a small town barely visible among the trees by the edge of the lake. "Most people live there and there are couple more inns there but most tourists come here for at least a day during summer. There are marked paths around the valley, connecting here, town, the main shrine and few smaller shrines and points of interest and viewing spots."

Jimmy just nodded, totally dumbfounded by the view. He expected it'd be beautiful but this beat all his expectations. "I hope I have some time to see some of it," he breathed out. He never saw something this beautiful. He was barely listening to what Gem was saying. Trying to take in all the details and places he was interested in visiting.

"As expected of Gem, going to see the views before greeting us," a melodic laugh had them turning around and Gem squealing and running to a medium tall pink-haired woman in a dark blue casual kimono with rolled up and tied in place with ribbon sleeves and dark pink obi. Next to her was a slightly taller than her man with dark brown hair with a green streak, dressed in a similar manner. Jimmy assumed it was the uniform of the inn. He just hoped he wouldn't need to wear similar sandals. Not that he would complain if he did, but he did come here to help and experience something new. "Be nice to her, she was away for a whole semester," the man chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her.

Gem just giggled as she ran up to hug them. "I missed you two so much," she smiled as Jimmy awkwardly walked closer. "Meet Jimmy, the friend from college who offered to help around here. Jimmy, meet Lizzie and Joel, the owners of Stratos," Gem jumped back and introduced everyone.

With the introductions out of the way Jimmy was shown around the inn, the separate kitchen and restaurant building, the staff house and his room where his stuff was already waiting to unpack. And a welcome basket of fruits and local snacks. And a couple of sets of Ryokan's uniform. He didn't have to wear the sandals but was already planning to at least try wearing them. In the kitchen, he met the only chef of the inn, Sausage or 'Mythy' as Joel asked him, and Hermes, about fourteen years old kid who was helping around.

After the tour of the place, he was given the rest of the day off so Gem could show him around the valley. The walking path from the inn to town was maybe mostly packed dirt was nice, with small fences occasionally separating it from the woods, with lanterns. Gem said they weren't used much outside summer since locals rarely left after sundown. Jimmy assumed they didn't have much reason to wander in the dark. Most of the path had an excellent view of the lake and the serpentining up the mountain road for the cars. It was in full sun and looked like no fun at all. Jimmy was glad they decided to walk instead of borrowing one of the inn's mopeds. He had his license with him and Joel mentioned he might send him on deliveries and errands if he doesn't mind. Jimmy did not mind a chance to go around the place.

The town was small. Housing maybe a few hundred. With a few small hotels and inns and restaurants overlooking the lake. Near a flower shop with an impressively colourful display, and one of those small restaurants they saw a man performing on a shamisen. Dressed in a haori decorated with a colourful, flowery pattern, golden lining and a flat straw hat on his head. Some early tourists were listening to him play. There was no box for coins, interestingly.

"Oli," Gem grinned as she waved to the man. "He plays during the more public, festival-y rituals," she added as the man bowed to his audience before walking up to Gem, shamisen on his back and hugging her and even picking up slightly. 

"I missed you so much, red, I thought fWhip would rip me apart whenever I had to tell him there was no letter from you," he laughed but there was a hint of annoyance at that latter bit. Jimmy filed the name 'fWhip' for later. It made his skin tingle a bit like it have never done before. Too much sun maybe?

"And where would my lovely twin brother be nowadays?" Gem asked with the happiest smile she ever had on her face and Jimmy knew Gem as a happy and friendly person who's hard to bring down.

"Probably bothering Scott, around the woods," Oli shrugged. 'Scott' also made Jimmy's skin itch again. He'd have to hydrate more. "And who's this young man?"

"Jimmy. A friend from college, he agreed to come with me and help Lizzie and Joel," Gem introduced him with a beaming smile and was about to say more but Oli stopped her.

"Orion 'Oli' Sound, a performer and a helpful soul," he introduced himself with a cat-like grin. For a second it looked like it didn't fit on his face but once Jimmy blinked it was just a normal smile. He definitely needed to be better about hydrating. "Young man?"

"It's nothing, I think I need to hydrate a bit better, sorry," Jimmy laughed it off.

Oli nodded and said he'll go to the ryokan to see if there was anyone to entertain there, and with another bow sauntered to the path Jimmy and Gem took down the mountain. Once he left Gem took Jimmy to the general store where they got a couple water bottles each and some snacks. And a box of chocolates, 'for a friend' Gem said as she picked them out. Jimmy guesses she meant someone at the temple. Or her brother, fWhip. Jimmy never heard that she had a brother but she rarely talked details about things back home, here. And Jimmy never pried into her business.

Once they were properly hydrated they climbed another set of stairs up to the temple. There was no visible car access but Gem pointed him to where there was a secret car access. 'Since the temple is a bit of a tourist location it's slightly hidden' she said as he might have to deliver food from the ryokan to the temple. This path was more decorated. With more torii gates along but these ones were decorated with thick braided ropes with talismans and bells attached to them and flowers at the bases. Nice decoration for the tourists Jimmy guessed as the wind gently shook the bells. Gem was smiling the whole way, talking about how much time she'd spent on the temple even before joining it.

The temple was a beautiful sight. Red rooves and pale pink together with dark detailing. A couple of shrine maidens milled about the main courtyard watching some early tourists. One of them walked off as soon as she spotted Jimmy and Gem and soon returned with a different shrine maiden. Dressed in slightly different, more complicated and decorated robes with a pale purple shawl. Long hair tied in two low braids. coming forward over her shoulders.

"Gem, it's so nice to see you again," she said approaching them. "And this must be your friend we've heard so much about," she smiled, offering Jimmy a slight bow. "I'm Katherine, the head of this shrine, welcome to the Sakura Valley."

"I'm Jimmy and thank you, it's really beautiful here," Jimmy returned the bow. 

"Here, a gift," Gem grinned as she gave Katherine the chocolates she bought earlier. "I'l finish..." she started saying but suddenly stopped and turned around. Two figures at the Torii gate on the other side of the temple. One dressed in light blue and cyan yukata with vaguely aquatic themes, with an umbrella over his shoulder, long, loosely tied cyan hair and a fox mask. Others dressed in black yukata with bright red spider lilies decorating the lower part and sleeves. No umbrella, ginger hair and a Ryu mask. Both in the geta sandals. The redhead froze and pulled his mask to the side. and quickly approached and... Jimmy could swear he saw something wag behind him but that was probably just wind moving the foliage. "Hi sis," he smiled as the other man followed.

"fWhip!" Gem smiled and hugged him. "I heard you were mean to Oli," she huffed as she pulled back.

fWhip just shrugged. Jimmy wasn't paying much attention after that. The itching came back and he could swear the fox mask was watching him. And the weird itch was back. 'Scott' the name Oli said came back to mind. He did say fWhip could be near someone like that and it would seem the redhead was fWhip. He did look a bit like Gem once his mask was off. But his eyes were slightly unnervingly blue. And they didn't seem like they were watching Gem, or Jimmy as he was introduced, but somewhere else, deeper, both past and into him.

"I'll walk Jimmy back to Lizzie and Joel's and be right back?" Gem turning to Katherine and fWhip pulling his mask back on broke Jimmy from his deep muddled thoughts. He had no idea what all that was. Maybe he was just tired... That had to be it.

"We can walk him back, we're going that way anyway," Scott offered, hand on fWhip's shoulder as the redhead tensed slightly. Did he not like his sister's association with the temple? Or Jimmy? He chose to not think too much about it. "We were visiting Pearly and Shrub," he added with a shrug.

"Would you be okay with it?" Gem asked Jimmy.

"Of course, I came to help at the inn since you said you'd be busy here, I'd hate to make you even more busy," Jimmy shrugged, pushing down his worries. Maybe he could convince fWhip he cared for Gem, she was his best friend. He wanted her to be happy. She was very kind to him.

And just like that he ended up awkwardly walking higher up the mountain, the shrine was a bit lower than the ryokan, following Scott with fWhip staring daggers into his back. Or at least it felt like that. That weird itching seemed to permanently settle into tips of his fingers. Goosebumps refused to leave his spine. The slowly darkening sky bathing the valley in warm sunset did little as a distraction from this unsettling feeling that something bad was about to happen. 

He had those bad feelings before. And they usually proved correct and listening to them helped him avoid certain misfortunes. But it was never this strong. Now that he thought about it, he had this feeling since he and Gem passed that third torii gate. And it just got stronger and stronger. And... they had nothing to do with fWhip...

"Careful," Jimmy has shaken away from his thoughts as he tripped on the last few steps and was caught by Scott and fWhip. "You okay?" one of them asked. Jimmy wasn't sure which.

"Yeah... Just tired," Jimmy lied with a tense smile.

They looked at each other, he was pretty sure they did, hard to say with the masks on. Even if they didn't believe him they didn't press. They did stay a bit closer but that could be them being off the stairs. fWhip on his left, between him and the forested mountains. Scott on the right, between Jimmy and the valley. They walked in silence. 

One minute. Two. Three.

Jimmy's head slowly started to hurt. Barely a noticeable pang at the base of his skull at first. Slowly getting stronger and stronger.

Four. Five. Six.

The headache got too strong. Jimmy fell to his knees. And... "Danger..." Jimmy whispered but his conscience wasn't in control. It was like he wasn't even in his own body as Scott and fWhip panicked. The cyan-haired man shook him as the redhead looked around for the danger. He could hear them as if he were drowning. Distant, muffled, only a few words reaching his ears. "fWhip... I don't know... what... is he really... spirit... energy... too much..."

Wild howling erupted in the woods. Not like wolves should sound according to nature documentaries.

Jimmy had no idea what to do. He felt like he was overheating. Like he was about to explode. "Let it go..." he heard a voice he could not connect to anyone he knew. A calm, soft, warm familiar voice. A voice he trusted so he let it go.

Just as he let it go he noticed weird shadowy wolf-like creatures prowling around the three of them. Some with two, some with three heads, baring their teeth, some without heads. Some with more than four limbs. Not natural. Not something that should exist. And he let go and they were pushed back, some vanished into smoke. Some ran away yelping in pain. As a ring of golden energy all but exploded out of him.

For a moment the balcony over the valley they were on was silent. Dark. Leaves swaying in the wind being the only sound. Golden butterflies flying around. Jimmy wasn't sure if they weren't just in his brain. But slowly he regained control and looked around. None of the balcony was damaged. But... "You got..." he blinked looking up at fWhip and Scott. When did he fall back? They discarded their masks and...

"You got fox ears?" he asked dumbly pointing at fWhip who indeed had two fox ears. And nine massive fox tails behind him. "And you... you're a dragon?" he turned to Scott, who now had two, light blue horns poking out his soft hair and a long tail with light cyan scales. And pretty mismatched cyan and gold eyes and...

Before either of them said anything in their shock Jimmy fainted.

[namidragons]

Some more Sol meta rambles relating to the various Sols in my IWATEX fic Inevitability

Spoilers referencing some endings and of course, the fic, so uhhh read that first? Also discussion of death.

Xylophone "Zy" is a bit of a thought experiment about timeloops and just how differently/badly things on Vertumna could go. Within Exocolonist itself obviously things can only diverge so much otherwise it'd be impossible to factor everything into the game, but I imagine that, through butterfly effects and little nudges here and there, some of Sol's loops could end up looking very different from how things shake out in the game. There's a number of occasions where Sol 'remembers' things that don't happen or they're unsure are real, some of them apparently very bad; there are probably potential disasters that we never see during an actual playthrough.

Which brings us to Zy, the living embodiment of worst case scenario. They're kind of awkward and gloomy, and when they arrive on Vertumna, things just get worse and worse. Tammy dies and Zy can't shake off the thought that it's their fault, something felt wrong and they ignored it and now Tammy's gone. They withdraw in on themselves, start sneaking out with Dys (they kind of get along with him? but Zy's also really blunt and tactless and probably upsets him sometimes), and then within a couple of years another disaster. They both run afoul of some wildlife, Zy panics and uses their augment, which is a kind of a camouflage, Dys is killed. Zy's turbobanned forever from going out and there's a share of people who blame them for Dys (though Zy probably believes it's more people than it really is). Although Zy does manage to save Hal later on, they are injured in the process and suffer from a permanent eye injury. Cal, pretty much the only friend-adjacent person Zy has left, dies in a geoponics accident thanks to the cultivators straining to their limits to try and solve the famine, which also sees Flulu die.

Zy then remembers what's going to happen with the Stratos being destroyed and as per the fic, it's their breaking point. They manage to blow up the faceless attacking the colony but the explosion brings down the wall and kills Chief Rhett, among others, resulting in massive casualties. Zy wanders off into the wilderness in a self-loathing despair and meets their end.

writing it all out I feel pretty bad for them damn, but that's where you get thinking about worst timelines.

-

Strawberry "Beep" is the opposite side of the Zy timeloop coin, as in, there must be certain loops where the events that play out are very, very similar, down to the Sol experiencing them being almost exactly the same person (something pretty easily replicated in the game itself). In this case, Beep being very close to another Strawberry, "Straw".

Like it says in the fic, Beep is a tough cookie and an excellent fighter, but not a jerk about it. She's kind of in the middle of loyalty vs rebellion; she'll usually toe the line but there's a competitive streak in her and definite willingness to challenge the status quo. Sometimes in the back of her head she just gets this impression, this idea, that hey maybe she should back off a bit, maybe she shouldn't brag, maybe she should be the bigger person. (and let's be real, kind of a jerk move to gloat about being a powerhouse when your augment is superstrength)

I just find it interesting to consider how much Sol might or might not remember. Maybe now and then there's a loop just like this one, where it's more of a nagging feeling than distinct memories.

Sadly for Beep, being a hero doesn't always pan out, and those consequences are another facet of her.

-

Strawberry "Straw" was one of my favourite actual playthroughs (though honestly I love all my Sols puts them in a big basket and carries them around like little chickies). She's hard as nails and maximised every red skill, that super strength putting in work. As a kid, she's an absolute hellion with rebellion all the way to the right, someone who helps out with guard and watch duty all the time but frustrates the heck out of Rhett because she's terrible with orders and consistently just does whatever she wants: it works so nobody is allowed to criticise her.

Kom's death hits Straw like a hammer and completely knocks her off her high horse. Without the reality check, Straw would have grown up to be an arrogant jerk, akin to a less cruel Vace. Instead, Straw calms down a lot, realises her own limitations, and puts in some work on herself. She's still not really the greatest people person (bravery 2/3s full is pretty much the extent of her social skills), but her boisterousness comes down a few notches and she's only mostly rebellious instead of full bore stick it to the man.

Technically there are versions of Straw who both destroyed the array and were a colonial hero, but Straw genuinely and truly wants to make things better, and in spite of finding out enough about the array that she could have sabotaged it, she quietly just omits key information and stalls enough that she and Marz are able to pull off their coup and replace Lum. At that stage it's a leadup into a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Instead of being a career soldier, Straw turns towards her botanical interests and becomes prominent in that field. (Straw is significantly smarter than she lets on or wants people to know, in peacetime endings, she gets over that insecurity).

Straw has a lot of good friends amongst the other colonists, including somehow Vace. She broke up him and Nem, but she kind of compartmentalised it as a dislike for seeing Nem with somebody else (Straw having crushed on her for essentially forever). Vace and Straw are competitive, and she doesn't put up with him being pointlessly cruel in front of her, but they're both pretty gung ho people and Straw does cheer on 'badass' stuff and attempt it in turn. Over time (especially when Straw and Nem get together a while after the breakup and she starts to realise how bad Vace's behaviour really was), Straw comes to the conclusion that Vace has got issues and needs help, but it's much later than the in-game therapy arc, because Straw isn't great with this kind of thing and spends a little while hoping he'll just grow out of it (he is in his mid 20s, he is not growing out of it). So yeah Straw gets Vace therapy when he's about 25 and has caused a lot of shit already. (non-therapy Vace friendship is kind of a big oof in ending slides, he just never grows as a person).

Incidentally, arrogant!Straw probably wouldn't have got along with Vace, there'd have been too much push-pull with their relationship, and she'd have started mashing his buttons on purpose sooner or later. Eventually, one of them would have wound up seriously injuring the other; we already know Vace has it in him to attack Sol, and arrogant!Straw is a Sol who would fight back very violently. It would not have ended well in the slightest.

[gemofglimmergrove]

A Hopefully Helpful Directory/Timeline of Events in Chronological Order

Gem meets Witch Joey in the Evermoore, arranges a deal for him to come by and try and cure her kingdom and he gets his hat repaired in exchange. [ × ]

Joey comes by to the Grove, gets his new hat and attempts to cure Gem's land. [ × ]

Lizzie and Gem meet, arranging an order for an apron in exchange for some dye and they set up an alliance. [ × ]

Pearl stops by Gem's to string her bass guitar, in exchange she does a performance for her people. [ × ] [ × ]

Oli stops by Gem to order a formal suit and they chat for a bit. [ × ]

Sausage runs to Gem for wool to cover up some shriekers near the area the Shelby-Joey duel will be held and the two gossip, Sausage filling her up on the whole Fairytale Trio Drama. [ × ]

In the aftermath of the duel, Gem stops by Katherine's for some princess tea time talk. [ × ]

Gem visits False's base for some froglights and hopefully some useful info. [ × ]

Lizzie comes by Gem's to dye the white streaks in her hair a fun new color. After it's dyed, a "trick of the light" happened when the moon rose and it's light hit her hair and Lizzie offers a meeting with her patron for "Gem's friend". [ × ]

Joey has a fashion emergency, going to Gem for an outfit for the Sheriff's holiday party and Gem provides. [ × ]

Gem comes to Stratos to ask the very credible Life God Jimmy for help in curing her kingdom's lands, things go just about as well as you think. [ × ] [ × ] [ × ]

Gem comes to Chromia to meet with Lizzie's patron and strikes a deal with the mysterious fae. [ × ]

Gem's at the holiday party and meets with Sausage and they talk shit about Jimmy and they're friendship strengthens. [ × ]

Shelby orders a glove from Gem and she comes by to the Forgotten Cove deliver it. [ × ] [ × ]

Sausage comes by to deliver food supplies to Gem. He talks to her about the fae deal since he's found out about it. [ × ]

A dove appears in Gem's window, delivering a letter from her fey employer for her first task. [ × ]

Lizzie visits Gem's right after she got her letter from the fey. [ × ]

Right after Lizzie leaves, False talks with Gem to confront her about her fae deal and generally warning her. [ × ]

Gem goes to Sausage for the first item in the grocery list letter given to her by her fae patron. [ × ]

She goes to Joey for the 2nd item in the list. [ × ]

And at last, she's at Sanctuary for her final item but something's... off.[ × ]

A mysterious assassin reveals himself to Gem, she attempts to deceive him but things only escalate into a fight once fWhip comes back. In the end of it all, while the mysterious assassin is temporarily defeated, Gem has fallen into a deep sleep. [ × ]

Gem's been resting and hasn't shown any signs of waking up any time soon and has since been taken into a room inside Sanctuary's tavern where Katherine pays an unexpected visit to her and fWhip comes back. [ × ] [ × ] [ × ]

Katherine's attempt to wake up Gem works and she finally wakes up. [ × ]

On her way out of Sanctuary, Gem is stopped and surprised to see familiar faces. [ × ]

And finally, Gem gets home to find her patron waiting for her. She finishes her first task, giving her the items then asks for some of her land to be healed and she gets what she asked but at a cost. [ × ]

Gem wasn't the first to discover the newly appeared fae circles that littered the land. [ × ]

Pearl stops by asking Gem if she wants a dog, they decide to go to Goblands to check out the puppy. [ × ]

The horseback ride to Goblands. [ × ]

They get to Goblands to see Sausage and check out the puppies. Gem and Sausage briefly discuss trade. [ × ]

The horseback ride home. [ × ]

Gem gets an odd package at her doorstep. [ × ]

Gem's patron comes to give her another task with a rather generous bounty. [ × ]

Gem ventures down to the Animalian mines to complete her task, doing it discretely as her patron wished proves to be more difficult than expected. [ × ]

Doing this discretely is way harder than it looks apparently and Gem comes to meet the Mayor of Animalia for the first time. [ × ]

As Gem returns home from completing her task, Pearl stops by for a delivery, a dog delivery. [ × ]

[betweenthetimeandsound]

If my kiss offends you Then punish me with yours. --Strato

An affair of strawberries only throws me on the edge of the tightrope, dancing through cloudy streaks in between humid skies. Two minutes which cut your lips and blood slides on your tongue is not a poison. It’s a passion to watch tissue paper roses disintegrate from past lovers.

You were born in a cherry garden, but never learned the ways of women-- the scratching of nails, the weaving of summer dresses, the whispering of promises in mist unraveling through spiderwebs. Your scarred hands only know how to pull on threads and play funeral songs for a youth sabotaged in mazes of wire.

A citrus kiss only reverts back to the summer where you stripped off cotton and dressed up in shells. Lightning goes through your legs but you’re a willow tree weeping for sand sliding down an hourglass…

But slip into the bubbling waves, to catch me from the tightrope, and draw your teeth into its sheath. Leave nothing to the roll of dice nor to the ring of bells. If my kiss throws you into despair, then release me with your hopes. --Elda Mengisto

Author's Note: I wrote this poem two years ago after reading that fragment in an anthology for Greek poetry. It sounded very lustful and it inspired the rest of this piece, about desire and taking a risk in a relationship with somebody who tries to shy away from it. One of the few times I also go into sensuality.

For the eleventh day of @writeblrfantasy "12 Days of Writer Self-Love"

[robby3472drivetime]

Pontiac Strato Streak Concept 1954

[hcc-international]

Top of the line ! Pontiac Star Chief Catalina mit Strato-Streak V8 Motor in absolut Bestzustand bei HCC-International #oldtimer #pontiac #starchief #uscars #v8 #1956 (hier: Troisdorf, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXVpb6KNok/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[stone-cold-groove]

From the car files: a 195 Pontiac 860 Strato-Streak sedan ad.