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spacetimewraithwrites · 2 months ago

Text

Find the Word Tag Game

(Double Feature/Warren Is Spectacular At Failing Edition)

(tw: sex mention)

tagged by: @druidx & @sleepyowlwrites!! my words: odyssey, grave, wish, warden, shirt, sleeve, start, sorry, speculate, scatter tagging: @drippingmoon, @druidx, @drabbleitout, @ashen-crest, @zmwrites, @sleepyowlwrites, @muddshadow, @asomeoneperson, @idreamonpaper, anyone who wants to, and the creatures hiding in precious safety just beyond our volatile reach your words: big, bad, brain, boring, brush, bang

odyssey journey (Rebirth)—

"I'm sending you back to the Ganymede in the capsule with Osillo," Thrive said to Warren. "If Pax agrees to let us work together, we'll reconvene."

"Hey," Warren murmured, tightening his hold on Thrive's hand as he moved to stand. "Be careful."

He didn't receive a response, but he didn't need one, either.

The journey back to the capsule felt longer than it had been, his mind racing the whole way back to the ship. His legs moved on autopilot out of the shuttle bay, through the corridors, until he found himself staring at a locked door with no idea how to do this gut-wrenching and hopefully cathartic thing that he needed to do.

Before he could even knock—which, admittedly, would have felt very strange—the door slid open. Guetry invited him inside via a lazy head-tilt toward the interior of his quarters.

grave (Eternal)—

"So the best thing to do when shaken is to go to a mass grave," Guetry said. "Make it make sense."

"Shut up." Warren pointed to Thrive and Sussa. "One or both of you is gonna get bad news. The best thing to do afterward would be to isolate."

"No better place to isolate than a dead planet," Thrive murmured, turning a somber eye onto Sussa.

"Cool," Guetry piped up, slapping a hand on the bed and jumping to his feet. "It's settled then. I'll go update my will again. Just in case."

wish (Meridian)—

"Normally I would be obligated to go with them, as they've been with me for the last three years and I respect them greatly. However, I've recalled just now a mission on Logoryt, with the two of you, Guetry, Emnophene, and Osillo. I enjoyed the dynamic between you five, and I somewhat selfishly wish to capture a small bit of that magic again."

Warren ducked into the shuttle after [Scot] and made room for Thrive to board last. "You believe in magic?"

Scot took that question into consideration as Thrive settled on his other side. "'Believe' may be strong...but I think magic exists within the perfectly explicable. For instance, Orthrive'poliea's abilities could be considered magic by most, could they not?"

Thrive peered down the line at Warren.

"Absolutely," Warren said. "I've seen magic in a sunset, and in Ataneq's laugh as a child, and in the supermassive black hole at the center of Ashva..."

"You understand me, then." Scot smiled again, unfazed by the jolt of the shuttle lifting to make its descent onto the surface. "We may never be able to relive those days with the Ganymede team in their entirety...but I'd like to create new memories with you."

"New memories are all I've got going forward, my guy," Warren said, drawing a knee up and folding his arms over it.

warden guard (Aurora)—

Before Warren could ask what that meant, he was being ushered into one of the elevators along with Yara, who tried to ignore the handful of tall, buff people squeezing around them. Thrive, with the delegate, was nudged into the second elevator among the other half of security.

"Fucking shit, my good sir," Warren snapped at the guard whose heel came down directly on his foot in his attempt to shrink himself further into the elevator. The door swiveled shut and they began their ascent. "Ow!"

The guard said nothing.

"Apologies," Yara said beside him. "They're good at their jobs but what they excel at in protection, they lack in basic coordination."

shirt (Eternal)—

Fuck. Warren really hoped he wouldn't have to be a liar about this, but it appeared he had no choice. "I had something of his. A shirt."

"Mm-hmm," Thrive said, running a palm over his jawline. "What did it look like?"

"Well, what do you think it looked like? It had Skywaste written on it and it was massive."

"Are you sleeping with him?"

Warren's blood ran cold but he noticed with some interest that Thrive didn't appear to be enraged or even annoyed. He regarded him with nothing less than genuine curiosity that made Warren's skin crawl. "What the fuck kinda question is that?"

Thrive shrugged. "If you are, I'd rather know than be kept in the dark."

"Thrive...I don't know if I'm wigged more by the fact that you think I'm capable of getting any kind of better or equivalent sex with another dude, or the fact that you think I could get it with Guetry."

sleeve (Rebirth)—

On the bridge, Thrive turned to Guetry and Osillo. "Would you two like to join me?"

"It'd be an honor," Guetry said, pushing up the sleeves of his form suit. "I'd sent in armor reqs while you and Warren were gone—we've got enough now to make sure we're not murdered the second we get out of the cap, at least."

"Right," Thrive said. "Gear up."

Warren, sitting on a console in the back of the room, knew by his tone that Thrive wasn't going to bother with armor. He couldn't explain the feeling of apathy that overcame him at the idea of him refusing to wear it, but he wasn't worried.

"Try not to have too much fun without me," he said as the trio walked past him.

"Be sure to rest," Thrive said, gliding a quick hand over Warren's ribs. "You're very close to being a hundred percent healed, and I'd rather you didn't do anything to undo that progress."

start (Aurora)—

Warren awoke with a splitting headache, in bed at Lilori's house with Thrive fast asleep next to him. Drowsiness had a hard time leaving him, and he peered through groggy eyes out the window at the sunrise over the lake. Thrive started to stir and Warren cleared his throat of mucus. "Mm," Thrive muttered. "Always charming." "What the fuck happened last night?" Thrive raised himself to his elbows and he blinked around the room as if the memory aggressively snapped to life within him. He responded with a heavy sigh. "Oras'at. It was my first time." "If oras'at means rearranging my guts, I have bad news for you regarding the validity of what you just said," Warren grunted, leaning over to tap the lighting panel on the wall beside the bed.

sorry (Eternal)—

Thrive's shoulders tensed at the mention of exhaustion and it was hard to miss. He wouldn't meet Warren's eyes. "I'm sorry."

Warren fought the urge to curl in on himself and instead placed his hand on the door handle again. "Alright. Well. Um...that's your decision, and…" He forced himself to speak. "I'm gonna go pack my stuff and shoot a message to the housing department of the Node. Thrive…"

When their eyes finally did meet, Warren's misted over without his permission.

"Hopefully I'll see you before Guetry's out of prison."

"Warren, think about this—"

"I did. I have. And I need to do this." Warren gripped the handle a little too tightly. "I love you. Just...remember that. I love you."

Before the utterly crushed look on Thrive's face could sway him, Warren walked out of his office.

speculate (Rebirth)—

"Right. Guetry Sympa—"

Thrive held an arm out as if to proactively stop anyone behind him from coming forward. "Delegate, pardon the interruption, but are you aware of the Oath of Caala?"

DeCosta took a few pensive steps toward them. "...I think there was a brief mention about it in the texts, yes. Speculation about the obhelians and the ——— and how they possibly tie to the ———. It's said that Caala is a sacred rite for obhelian Protectors that is taken very seriously. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Thrive said. "It's an oath taken with the understanding that if I somehow failed to uphold it, I would have to atone in a way I can't divulge. It belongs to no ears but those of the Protectors. I've taught it to ———, though I have no right to teach it myself."

DeCosta squinted the sun from her eyes. "...It's a shame you've had to do that."

Thrive began to move in her direction, slow and somewhat like a beast sizing up prey. "I can't stop you from arresting Guetry as that's your law, and I have no intention of disregarding that law. Since he's been on obhelian soil, however, and the Consortium recognizes Tournaltis as such according to article eight under the lawbook your predecessor helped draft—Uncharted Planets and Natives—you cannot stop me from invoking my right as a Protector under the Oath of Caala and as Leader of Tournaltis to extend my protection to him."

Warren frowned and the rest of the group began to perk up, watching Thrive in interest.

"You will have my full cooperation," Thrive continued, "as long as and until I no longer have yours. Is this agreeable?"

scatter (Meridian)—

After a second, explosions went off not too far from his current location. The fog scattered again, and Warren followed the vibrations in the walls until he came across the huge hole the Setae'togun had blasted into the temple. He watched the ship turn around and line the loading hangar with the hole.

Warren spun to fire into the fog again before adjusting his hold on Thrive and running to the ship. He tossed Thrive as soon as he left the gravity barrier, and he soared into the ship, followed close behind by Warren, who leaped after him.

"Go," Warren yelled as soon as he made contact with the floor. "Go into FTL and don't stop, then get Scot down here, now!"

"On it!" Zac shouted, and the familiar jolt of jumping into FTL was practically immediate.

Warren, adrenaline still pounding through his veins, craned his neck to look at Thrive, who was awake and staring at him. Even being unable to move, sapped of color with a section of tubing draping from his hollowed chest and seeping onto the metal floor, he looked stunned and disappointed.

"What have you done," he muttered.

#tag game #Find the Word #I think I'm gonna stop apologizing for long snippets lol #death taxes and long ftw snippets from Donovyn

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