#onyx-colony

[wolfpai999]

I saw your good omens art, looked at crowley and immediately knew you used to draw tf2 stuff 😭

I mean, I drew a few fanarts from tf2, but mainly just played the game and was in the fandom a very long time ago LOL.

I can see where you’re coming from tho!

[karlohabagatstudios]

My MMD Compilation of Pics in May 2024

Here are the compilation of MMD pics from May!

Most of them were originally submitted from my DeviantArt page.

Go check them out: https://www.deviantart.com/karlo-habagat

Support me on Ko-Fi as well (and only YOU can unlock the second pic without a watermark for at least $5): https://ko-fi.com/karlohabagatstudios

[lord-squiggletits]

Onyx Prime = Shockwave time travel plot is such shitty writing I could and WILL (eventually) write multiple essays about it it's so fucking bad.

[onyx-colony]

We're on a bus. Headed for Ohio. On our way to annoy one of our spouses.

[azsazz]

Shut Out

Hockey!Azriel x Figure Skater!Reader

Summary: Req from @i-am-a-lost-girl16: Hockey Az and Figure Skater reader?

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 1,493

Notes: See? I still write 😏

_________________________________________

“Hey! I still have the ice for another fifteen minutes,” you shout at the hockey players that are suddenly stampeding through the gate to the ice rink like animals.

You cut to a harsh stop, ice shavings spraying in your wake as you cross your arms over your chest and glare at the Velaris Bats hockey team gliding easily across the ice rink where you were just practicing your figure skating routine. Normally, you’d be ogling the broad players in their onyx and violet practice jerseys, already splitting into teams for a scrimmage as they ignore the fiery look on your face, but with only a few more weeks until nationals, you need every minute on the ice that you can get.

“Sorry, Princess,” Cassian “Bloodshed” Bailey says, flipping a puck onto the tip of his stick as he skates past, tossing it up and catching it again a few times as if it’s a display that should impress you. Right now, none of their tricks or flirtatious teases are doing anything of the sort. “Gotta big game against the Wolves this weekend. Coach wants us on extra ice time so we’re in tip-top shape.”

“I’m pretty sure when he said extra ice time, he didn’t mean to interrupt my ice time,” you growl at him, but he’s already distracted, bobbing the puck back and forth as he approaches the net. The sound of his stick on the ice echoes throughout the arena as he takes a slap shot.

You refrain from smiling smugly when the goalie stops his shot with a triumphant cackle.

You stubbornly want to stay on the ice, take up the time you’re allowed to practice your routine, but with all the pucks zipping around, it could be detrimental to your health if you were to trip or—Mother forbid—land on one as you come out of an axel.

Eyes flitting angrily around the colony of Bat’s players, you scour the ice for the team captain, Rhysand. The thing is, all dressed up in their pads and helmets, the players are a blur of clones, whipping by you on both sides as they warm up.

There’s always one player that never fails to stand out to you, no matter how much he tries to disappear from the crowd. He catches your eye as he skates by, the fallen strands of hair from your ponytail lifting with the speed that he’s moving, taking a puck down the ice as a breakaway ensues.

He dodges you easily, and your heart races in your chest at the fleeting glance he passes you. His hazel eyes have a hard, determined set to them, as if he knows before he’s even finished crossing the neutral line that he’s going to score a goal.

Azriel Teller.

He dips around the defensemen effortlessly, and if you were more well-versed in hockey to know if he was actually as good as he seems, you’d be sure that he’s a shoo-in for going to the big leagues after graduation.

Azriel feigns to the right, deking out the player in the violet practice jersey, before placing a well-aimed shot at the net.

It soars past the goalie, hitting the net and falling to the ice with a clatter that’s deafened by his teammates cheering and skating his way to clang their helmets together in celebration.

From the middle of the player puddle, those glittering hazel eyes find yours again and your breath whooshes from your chest at the smirk he pairs with it.

“(Y/N?) What are you still doing out here?” A voice startles you away from the glorious sight of Azriel. You flinch, teetering off balance as you whirl around, flailing your arms as you startle.

Rhysand catches you as you slip, steadying you against his chest. The sound of his hockey stick slapping the ice is loud in your ears and your cheeks heat with embarrassment as you clutch to the captain of the Velaris Bats jersey with an iron grip.

You were nearly born on the ice, your parents getting you into skating at a very early age, and here you are, tripping around like a newborn deer walking for the first time.

All in front of Azriel, too.

When you have your feet beneath you again, you slide back a pace, the frown returning to your face as you tilt your chin to address Rhysand.

“Your team cut into my time early,” you say sourly, but standing this close to Rhysand, you can’t seem to find that fire in the pit of your stomach that raged when the team first stepped onto the ice. The goal Azriel all but dedicated to you with that look snuffed it right out. “I don’t appreciate you guys barging in here on my time, thinking you own the damn place. I have nationals to practice for, you know.”

Rhysand grimaces in response. He’s someone you might even consider a friend, having run into the hockey boys on multiple occasions, the figure skaters and the hockey teams having to share one rink now that the other one is finally being updated with the generous donation the school received. He’s nice, a good team captain, if you’ve ever seen one, caring not only about his players, but the circumstances everyone at the Velaris Ice Center is facing with recent construction.

“I’m sorry about that,” he says, and he means it. “I was in a call with coach and wasn’t able to stop Cassian from leading the charge out here.”

“This is the second time it’s happened in two weeks, Rhys.” You all but huff. You don’t want to act like the prissy figure skater they probably all think you are, but enough is enough. Winning Nationals is important to you, and you can’t become distracted by hockey players or lose any ice time.

Rhysand opens his mouth to reply but before he can say anything, Azriel is whizzing past, shoulder checking his captain as if the consequences of that don’t bother him in the slightest.

You gasp as Rhys recoils, even more so when you see the cross look on Azriel’s face when he shoots a warning glower over his shoulder.

Rhys glares, flipping his friend off, and you have to tuck your lips between your teeth to keep from bursting into laughter at the sight of his gloved fingers thick with padding flipping Azriel off.

Rolling his eyes, the captain turns back to you.

“What was that all about?” You ask tentatively, not sure you want to know the answer. Your eyes are still on Azriel who’s hopped over the fence into the team’s bench and is currently squirting some water into his mouth. It drips down his chin, gliding down the thick column of his throat and into the neckline of his pads.

The sight makes your throat dry.

“I’ll try better,” Rhysand says, hands on his hips as he looks around the rink. His perfectly plucked brows are furrowed as he thinks, and you can’t help but wonder if he gets them professionally done or not. “Hey, assholes,” he suddenly shouts, and you flinch when his voice echoes around the arena. “Get on the benches, now!”

You swallow the lump that’s forming in your throat as the team follows their captains’ orders with grumbles. They don’t seem to want whatever lecture they think they’re going to get from Rhysand, but he ignores their grousing, turning back to you when the last ass has hit the bench.

“You have fifteen minutes, (Y/N),” Rhys says, skating backwards towards the bench.  When your jaw drops, his grin turns wicked.

He wants you to finish practicing right now? While the entire team watches? Is he fucking crazy?

“You can’t be serious,” you shriek, almost stomping your skate-clad foot on the ice. Yes, you’re used to performing in front of a crowd even larger than the team, but these guys are like fiends. Half of them glower at you while the other half is looking at you like they want to fool around on center ice.

“Totally am,” Rhysand shouts back, and you’re pretty sure your cheeks are hot enough to melt the ice beneath your skates. “C’mon now, you’re wasting precious practice time for the both of us!”

“Fuck you,” you grumble, but he’s right, you do want your time back. Preferably without a horde of horny college hockey players watching you, but you’ll take what you can get this time.

Skating over to where your phone is placed on the rail of the away team benches, you restart your song with a few beats of silence before so you can get into your starting position back in the middle of the rink.

When the first string of the violins starts, you’re off, determined now more than ever at getting this routine perfect.

You’re all too aware of the hazel eyes tracing your every move as you skate, though.

[pink-onyx-au]

Question - I remember earlier in the comics when they were discussing Onyxes that they had to meet a lot of strict requirements to be classified as one. How many Onyxes are there ( approx ), and how rare are they?

[For the sake of this AU of course - Mun lore Ramblings below]

I figure "off color" gems may be a bit more of a last-resort classification. Onyxes are a sort of "off-color" agate/jasper/quartz, but their "offness" is still a desirable trait, so it was given its own name rather than being a reject. Not unlike real gems, where if they form in a particularly special way, and that way is still desirable, it is given its own name and category. Gems like "Padparadcha" must be so common as an off-color sapphire that they get their own name, rather than just "orange sapphire." Onyxes fall into a category like this, however; their appearance is desirable by the diamonds. Maybe due to their uniformity.

Since these traits are technically off-color but wanted, the means of getting this "rank" is very strict, since it is allowing an off-color to have more power than its basic gem. Each Quartz soldier colony has a chance of producing an Onyx, but not all of them do. A really good kindergarden may product no Onyx at all, like the Prime Kindergarten. This is fine, because the soldiers will come out strong enough to not need an Onyx to lead or boost their ability. A poorer kindergarden like the Beta Kindergarten has a higher chance to produce Onyx, as the soldiers will come out less-than-perfect, and require a rank to fill-in. It is sort of a self-correction to prevent colony collapse that the Diamonds (of this AU) implemented.

You could argue that our Jasper, perfect as she is, was SO CLOSE to being classified as an Onyx due to her uniquely special power, but since she did not meet the color or body requirements, she was merely a "really good Jasper" and not an Onyx. Had she come out with the limb-deformities and the uniform stripes with that level of power, she would have been named the Onyx of the Beta Kindergarden after approval from the Diamonds.

Even though Onyx are more common at poorer kindergardens, there is still a chance that one may show up at a good one. Those are particularly deadly gems, because their Sisters are powerful and their status as an Onyx is very rare. They may be only 1 leader commanding an army of thousands.

Tl;dr: pretty rare.

Good ask, thank you!

[thesmokingguns]

25 Hours a Day w/ Izzy Stradlin

Minors DNI 18+

“Want to go somewhere quieter?” His eyes were dark in the dim lighting of the bar. All onyx gleam against mine as he waited for my reply.

The world got quiet for a second as heat flooded my cheeks as I nodded your head, watching him stare for a second too long before closing out the tab, slipping his hand on my lower back as you stood up ready to go.

Izzy smelled like the woods after the rain, the wet pine and forgotten secrets mixed with the harder edge of city life, whiskey and tobacco, making him so distinct. You were wrapped in the scent of him as he guided you through the crowd towards where he had parked the 60’s Chevelle in a glossy black that must have cost a fortune.

Not that izzy seemed to bat an eye about money, it was just another thing he had.

A chill racked your spine, his thumb pressing into the bones, running it up and down as he opened the passenger door for you, leaning in as you bent to get in.

“Don’t worry, I’ll warm you up soon.”

He was shutting the door for you, moving to the drivers side before you could gasp or call him out for what he had just said to you. His words leaving you with your mouth gasping like a fish out of water.

This was only my first date with him, despite this strange feeling that I knew him from somewhere. A memory just scratching at the surface but I hadn’t been able to bring it to the top yet.

I was aware he was driving me to his place, unsure if I should say something to him about it but feeling the nervous energy pulsing through your body, tingling you between your legs as my clit swelled with need and the damp desire flooded the silk panties I had slid on earlier today.

That same sense of will he see them now making my heartbeat wildly?

Izzy reached over, his veiny hand laying on my knee, a collection of cool silver rings chilling my skin as he turned his palm, walking his fingers up the flesh of my thigh as a shattered gasp of shocked want filled the air. A terror filled me as I realized that pant of want had escaped my lips. It was my needy sounds in the car.

“It’s okay, violet.” My eyes went from where he was resting his hand high on your thighs. HIs fingers lazily stroking with a surety that you weren’t sure existed in a bone of your body.

Violet? That wasn’t my name.

“On your lower back you have a birthmark, all violet in color and looking as soft as the petals of a flower.” He explained the nickname when he saw your confusion, my blush rising as I wondered how he knew about the spot that would only be clear in your swimsuits.

Sure I had spent time at the pool but that had been during the summer, weeks ago now that autumn had fully settled its dry bones over Indiana. Plus Izzy had been in LA, only visiting home recently to visit his family.

How could he have seen it?

But that information he didn’t volunteer to me with words. Instead he looked at me at the redlight, unafraid to make me wiggle uncomfortable in his gaze. He knew his effect on people and still didn’t care. He watched me in a way that was familiar, like his eyes had been on me for months and now you just realized all those times your hair had stood on end, looking around to see who caused me the feeling, was in front of me.

He smirked as he watched me swallow, his left hand moving to cup my jaw, thumb pressing where I had swallowed and trailing it down.

“Do you know how gorgeous you are?” The whisper was raspy with need and your eyes widened at the way he was affected by you.

As quick as he was on me he was off, pressing the gas as he squeezed my thigh, roaring down the street and getting closer to his house.

Everyone in our hometown knew where Izzy Stradlin lived. It was an old colonial style with so much land that you couldn’t even see it from the road. The wrought iron gates had been snuck over by local kids trying to get a glimpse of their celebrity. It had gotten to a point that Izzy hired a guard, who was currently opening the gates for the two of you to drive in.

Izzy nodded at the man as he drove down the drive, turning around the circular drive as he parked the car in front of the house, giving my thigh one more squeeze before jumping out and striding confidently to my side and pulling open the door for me.

“Before you come in, little violet, I’m going to give you a chance to back out of this.” I looked at him, shivering as leaves made sounds of bones tumbling in the wind. Autumn was craving to be winter. “I’ll drive you back to your house. Or you can come in and spend the night with me. I’m warning you. Think about this because I’m not sure I’m going to be able to let you go after one night. You might have found yourself well and truly fucked, little violet.”

Blinking I felt my heart speed up. Izzy was 29, eight years older than me. We hadn’t known each other in school and didn’t have mutual friends. Us meeting had been strange. He had walked into my job at the law firm, where I did clerical work with some guy my mom had dated at one point, and asked if I would have dinner with him. When I had blinked, confused he had gone on giving me a time and asking me my address, which I gave to him without thinking.

Sure enough at 6:55 my mother was yelling at me that he was here, her energy as excited as mine. My mother had me when she was 16 which made us close in a way that all our friends had always been jealous of.

When I walked down the stairs, wearing the slinky back top that tied in the back and tiny little denim skirt  with strappy heels I had stolen from her closet she had told me to call her if I wasn’t coming home, making me burn like the sun as I threw open the door as Izzy walked up to meet me.

His eyes had widened as he stole a final drag of his cigarette, the cherry at the end burning as bright as his eyes as he looked at me as if I was the first girl he had ever seen. But he recovered quickly, holding out his hand as he helped me into his car and whisking me off to dinner and drinks.

And now I was in front of his house having to make a choice if I wanted to sleep with him tonight; I knew that was what was going to happen if I went inside with him.

“Can I use your phone?” he blinked, confused before smirking, recovering as he nodded his head, helping me inside his house.

I slid off the wool jacket I was wearing, letting Izzy take it as he motioned to where the phone was in the hall and mentioning he was going to go get us drinks.

Calling home my mother reminded me to have fun, knowing that she had taught me my whole life how to be safe. It was the fun part that she thought I didn't have enough of.

Slipping from my heels I groaned a soft sense of freedom as I returned to my height. Bare feet on cool wood floors quietly moved around until I was in the soft glow of a fire, watching Izzy carefully stroke it as warmth filled the room.

As a log cracked his eyes lifted from the flames to me, pausing as if he just remembered I was there with him and he wasn’t alone. The look was enough to make me dizzy with need as I moved into the living room further as he set down the poker, stepping to meet me.

His arms fit around my body in a way that felt like we had done this a thousand times before and not just tonight.

“You’re staying?” I nodded, my tongue suddenly heavy as I watched the way his lips lifted in the barest of smirks, “I’m going to kiss you now, little violet.” His fingers pushed back my hair as he got closer, not breaking eye contact with me, “And when I kiss you, everything is going to change.”

Before I could ask when he meant he was pushing a palm into my lower back to bring us flush together, his left hand tilting my chin up and cupping my cheek as he pressed his lips against mine in a possessive dominance that made my toes curl.

My hands slid up, over the black button down he had worn to clasp behind his neck, pushing myself up as I opened my lips, deepening the kiss that we were sharing. Heart thundering as Izzy’s tongue dragged along mine, our tastes becoming something new. Something that was distinctively ours.

It was delicious.

All at once it wasn’t enough, I needed more of him.

“We have a lifetime, little violet.” he warned as I pushed my hips against his , feeling the hardness he had for me.

“I want to start my lifetime now.” Izzy’s eyes flashed in desire before he was swooping me up, letting me wrap my arms around his waist as he spun us towards the couch in front of the fire, laying me down on the leather.

His body over me as he pushed against me, making me groan in need as I pushed up against him as he kissed me, claiming me and needing me. Our hips grinding against each other. Just his pants and my panties as a barrier.

But Izzy made quick work of all that, leaving us breathless and naked between kisses as his cock jutted, hard and leaking dots of precum that had me hungry for his cock. I wanted to taste him instead of letting it go to waste.

“I don’t want a barrier between us.” I should have told him that he needed to wear a condom but I didn’t want a barrier either. I wanted all of him. I wanted to see the way my body coated him with my wetness, to see how he looked covered in me.

“I’m on the pill.” He nodded, pushing the head into me as I felt the way my lips parted, hands searching for something to gasp as I looked down.

Both of us were staring, watching the place between my legs where our two bodies were joining together. Inch by inch he claimed me, pulling out to watch the way I made his cock glisten with my cum before burying himself back inside of me. Both of us are entranced by the beauty of our two bodies together.

“Fuck.” Hearing him moan for me made me look up from where our desire was fueled and to his face. The way he watched my body, how he looked like I was his euphoria. It made my stomach knot with need.

Reaching out, I stroked his cheek, his eyes flashing up as he looked at me, Izzy was lost in me. His eyes not holding that calm collectiveness that he had displayed. He was losing himself and it was because of me.

Tugging his hair I pulled his lips to mine, sitting up as I slid him deeper inside of me,rolling his hips so that he could get deeper inside of me. Filling me in a way that had me so full I wasn’t sure I would be able to walk after this.

He wasn’t even going that fast or hard, taking it easy as if each second he was inside of me was a time that needed to be savored and appreciated. He was engrossed with me, so wrapped up as we panted, letting out sounds that I hadn’t know were possible against each others lips as we moved together to music that our bodies were performing.

“You’re perfect, little violet.” His thumb stroked the birthmark I had always been embarrassed about, turning my feelings into something beautiful. Making something I hadn’t been happy about into something beautiful for me.

I was so close, Izzy seemed to sense my buildup. He pulled from our kiss, eyes on my face like he didn’t want to miss a moment of pleasure between us.

“Let go for me. Let me see the way you look when you come on my cock for me. Let me see you, little violet.”  His words rattled me as I wanted to do it, wanted to have him watch me as I shattered apart for him.

My orgasm burst between us, his eyes widening in primal need as his hands gripped my hips, thrusting deeper, harder as he fucked me through my orgasm, letting me collapse against his couch as he covered me, chasing his own moment

“Izzy, fuck!” I cried out for him as my toes curled, a second orgasm shattering me and blinding my vision with tears.

“Yes, say my name again.”

“IZZY!” I cried out for him as I felt him, the warm thick feeling of being filled with ropes of cum as his cock rutted it deep inside of me, filling me with him before he laid against me, supporting most of his weight on his forearms as he tried to remember how to breathe.

The world was quiet chaos of crackling logs and breaths that shook our chests.

“I’ve been waiting months for you.” his lips kissed my collarbone as I tried to make sense of what he was saying to me, “Months of watching you just trying to be ready for you. I knew you were a hurricane. I just had to get ready for the storm.” His lips slid down as he kissed my stomach, my head heavy as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. “Lets get you showered. I need to take you again, little violet. I want to make love to you twenty five hours a day.” My heart finally threw its opinion out there. Taking over for my brain who wanted to live and my vagina who wanted him.

My heart knew we were well and truly fucked.

[yallemagne]

Meet Hematite and Jasper, a gem power couple and both halves of the fusion Bloodstone [design not yet made].

Yes, this is a Steven Universe/Dracula AU. Am I the first to ever do it? I doubt so, but I definitely am the best to ever do it.

I have all the gems lined up though I have not yet designed any. Pray for me if/when I try. A few of the gems are simple variations of the types we see in the show (like Green Jasper), though there are some that I had to conceptualize a place in gem society for (like Hematite). None of the main characters are human, though if I were to make any character human, it would be Arthur. That would change the story, dramatically, so I won't.

She/her pronouns for all the characters because I am not forcing a system as archaic as gender on a genderless society like that of Homeworld. We have the Gem Caste System to make the characters suffer under anyhow.

Character backstory and individual images under the cut.

Also, I have a Ko-fi.

Hematite is part of a class of gems whose role in gem society is most akin to human property lawyers. You might notice the resemblance to Zircons, which serve as attorneys in gem society. They deal in the management of transferring ownership of gem colonies. Gem colonies are most often given to high-ranking gems as proof of valour. As such, Hematites are few in number and they rarely if ever face combat.

(Green) Jasper is a Quartz soldier that was formed slightly offcolour. Instead of being broad and muscular, she formed thin and tall. Despite this, she retains much of the same strength of a regular Quartz and strives to prove her worth to her peers and her commander, Onyx.

Hematite was working with Onyx when she met Jasper, and something indescribable pulled them toward each other. Onyx, noticing their interest in each other, offered to let Jasper act as a bodyguard on Hematite's missions. It was on one of these missions that they met their friend Padparadscha, a noble gem with the power to see the future.

The day they fused, Jasper knew that she could not return to her life as a Quartz soldier, and Hematite no longer wanted to push papers to divvy out colonies. All they wanted was to find a place where they would be safe to be together. So, they turned to Padparadscha, who greeted their fusion with giddiness as she had known all along that they would fuse. With her foresight, she named the fusion Bloodstone, and with her influence, protected Bloodstone from Homeworld.

Bloodstone was uninvolved in the conflict on Earth, but when Steven Universe established Little Homeworld, she took the opportunity to live freely amongst other gems like her.

One day, she came upon the concept of human marriage and was enchanted. Hematite and Jasper unfused in preparation for the wedding. At that time, Hematite was to go on a mission to a faraway moon colony owned by a militant Andradite to inform her that the war was over and invite her to Little Homeworld... but what lies in store for her there?

In case it's not clear, I know I've been sitting with this for a while, so I am painfully familiar with all the inner workings, and y'all ain't:

Hematite: Jonathan Harker

(Green) Jasper: Mina Murray

Onyx: Peter Hawkins

(Star) Padparadscha: Lucy Westenra

Andradite: Count Dracula

[dailywillwood]

Made by @onyx-colony

[sonicasura]

Kaijuformers, Kaiju Transformers, is what you get when one side of the war decides to ramp things and the other follows suit to survive. Should it start on the Autobot side then mostly blame the Matrix of Leadership for its decision to turn Optimus into a giant monstrous titan at some random point. The reason why or whether its permanent depends on you handle the eldritch Spark containing pacemaker.

If it occurred on the Decepticon side first, then it's fucking Shockwave whose at fault. He did make actual Predacon clones in Aligned and took over Onyx Prime's body in the comics. There's a reason why the phrase "There's Satan and then there is Shockwave" exists. Megatron just approves the idea.

Either way it would be pretty fucking scary when you think about this iteration of their war on Earth. Literal giant monster fights that is just as destructive like in actual monster movies. There would be new technology created to make this new style of war more unpredictable.

Battleground Generators that form a temporary alternate pocket dimension to avoid massive unnecessary damage or unwanted casualties. Stealth Fields to make attacks undetectable unless intercepted in time.(You know the cases where entire towns or colonies of people disappear with no explanation on their whereabouts. It's like that but as a hunting ground based attack.)

A species known for adaptation potentially taking things a step too far. Decisions that could ultimately change Cybertronians into something unrecognizable from their original forms. War is terrifying for many reasons as morals barely matter and there are no lines left to cross.

Is it really worth it when the only way forward is to discard what you once were for the power of a monster?

Edit: There's nothing Godzilla related here. I just put the GIF here cause I thought it would fit. Lol

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

For @magellanicclouds - I wish it was happier but I am still thinking about the Gammas on that ship after being undercover for so long.

-

As soon as they're well enough to do so, the Gammas start patrolling.

The impulse is instinct beaten into them. Establish a basecamp and then monitor it and its surroundings. Two go and one stays with Mom. She nods and lets them because recon is important and just because ONI isn't on the Spirit of Fire doesn't mean they're safe. Someone is always watching.

The captain. The AI. The medical team. The IIs.

Red team may be apologetic about the circumstances they met under but IIIs don't do manners. Or socialization. It's why during a scouting trip past the onboard gym they heard themselves described as "feral".

At least you could count on marines to be too dumb to be anything but loose lipped and honest.

Years undercover aren't undone overnight. The tangled strands of who they were then and who they are now can never be the same. Some strings are cut to survive. Some parts lost. Habits that kept them alive are viewed as nervous tics and hypervigilance by people who had the luxury of sleeping through the worst of the war.

Maybe that's unfair, but so is their existence. The Gammas are the most volatile of the IIIs. They can never forget it. Revealing their need for smoothers meant handing over their leash. The need for a chemical tether never bothered them so much as the supplier. Nothing is ever certain but the mission. The mission's over now. Everything is uncertain and without each other to ground them, the Gammas would be lost.

Ash thinks of Onyx and Kurt. He thinks of being a leader and what sacrifices are necessary.

He listens to his brother struggle to breathe and wake up choking in the night. He holds Mark closer these days. He hears the sacrifice in his slower words and sees it in his far-away look.

"Exitus Acta Probat" - the ship's motto haunts his thoughts. Exploring yet another colony ship retrofitted for war should stir something in him, but Ash is tired. They're all so tired. Livi had gathered information on one of her patrols and then she had returned to their quarters and slept. And slept. Exitus Acta Probat: the end justifies the means. But what is the end? And where is the limit?

Ash doesn't know, but he'll lead his team as long as he draws breath. He makes Mark lean on him on the way back from patrol, shouldering his brother's weight with his head still on a swivel.

Eyes on them. Rescuers and witnesses to the means. In the end the mission was a success. Intrepid Eye was no more. The Keepers failed. Life goes on, for most.

A young man tucks his family in and then sleep takes him. He dreams of caves and phantoms and the sight of Mark still in the water.

Tomorrow he will get up and walk the ship again. There is no end, only the means and the ever growing middle.

[too-many-blorbos]

(Doubt I'm the first to suggest this, but--)

"Baldur's Gate 3." The survivors of the nautiloid find a tadpoled drow. He has lavender eyes and a head wound and can't remember literally anything before waking up on the beach, including common knowledge and recent history. Astarion dubs him "Tav." It's a bit frustrating to deal with a total amnesiac, but he'd good at fighting (the scimitars he took from the imps on the nautiloid feel at home in his hands) and he has a talent for crazy-but-effective strategy, so Tav is an asset to the team.

People keep telling him he looks like "Drizzt Do'urden," who is apparently a legendary hero. It must be a coincidence; Tav is too weak to be a legendary hero. Astarion concurs; Drizzt Do'urden is too powerful to be captured by mere mindflayers. Tav must just be a Seldarine drow who followed in his footsteps.

The quest progresses. Tav keeps discovering skills he didn't know he had--survival, tracking, an uncanny way with animals. The Underdark is just as easy for him to navigate as the surface (which is weird; if he's Seldarine, then he'd have no experience with the Underdark). Sometimes flashes of memory return to him, people he loved and wrongs he suffered, but the memories slip away just as quickly as they come.

Then they get to Moonrise Towers. And in the depths of the mindflayer colony, in a room of treasures hoarded from their victims, he finds a pair of magical scimitars and a little onyx statue of a cat.

They're his. He knows in his heart that they're his. And a lot of things suddenly make sense.

[miyey]

Here's Amber, my gemsona! He is a healer who is established in a gem colony in another galaxy, he and his caste serve the Onyx, a caste of warriors.

[onyx-colony]

Pressing the keep reading button on this site is like gambling with your soul. You open the post and suddenly you gotta decide if you like the colour of the sky or not while scrolling for 5 years

[an-onyx-void]

Watch "Where King Charles’s giant diamonds come from #shorts" on YouTube