A month long writing challenge focused on tropes, tags, and formats that have (for better or worse) fallen out of style.
From May 1st to 31st, creators will post their takes on each of the days' prompts, in any medium. Fan fiction, original stories, poetry, meta-analysis, and (even though writing is in our name!) yes, visual art as well!
I'm writing a drabble a day for @retrowrimay! That means exactly 100 words per prompt, no wiggle room allowed. Today's drabble is another Original Work, and is meant to be a companion to day 11: sex pollen.
Life wants to live, is the thing. All of it.
This does not exclude agents of disease.
The problem is that when such agents are too strong, they sometimes destroy their own habitat, their own hosts.
Clever diseases, the beautiful ones, bend this to this to their advantage.
The hanahaki flower does this in three stages.
It's fills the lungs of its host, spreading until the victim collapses, dead. Then it blooms from the corpse, and finally spreads out spore-like pollen, caught it the wind—or perhaps bottled and sold by witches—and always inhaled.
(I tried adding these to AO3 first—then I realized I no know how to put picture in where words normally go… so I gave up, twas pathetic, twas very quick.)
These are my fills for RetroWriMay26’s (@retrowrimay) prompts 3+12+24
Prompt 3: Gratuitous Self-Insert
Prompt 12: Daemon Fic (dæmon??)
Prompt 24: Vampire AU
I numbered the doodles so that I could give a description for each. When making these fills, I thought about the questions: what animal(s) get to be a daemon? The Daemon is the soul of the human, but aside from that, what does the daemon represent? The person’s passions/interests? Deepest darkest thoughts and desires? … mental heath????
These drawings are basically my answers to questions like that 👍🏽
Here are the descriptions for each:
1: that’s a quetzal, the quetzal is a vibrant green bird with a red belly (that got a lil legend to it as to why, bathed in the blood of its enemies or the last Aztec emperor or something, I forget, don’t got my book with me so don’t ask). For this one, I was thinking of one of the questions, what does a daemon represent? People’s past? Culture? … preverbal trauma of what was lost before they were adopted and now might kinda be longing to reconnect with??? (Ignore that one, is a rabbit hole I have yet to save myself from.) The quetzal bird is the national bird of Guatemala, where I was born and adopted from, I do love the bird, is a cool bird. I also like music, and birds make music.. sometimes they can be annoying, but still!
2: that’s an Irish Wolfhound. Why an Irish Wolfhound? Cause I was thinking of like.. 3 things.. 1) What if the daemon represented your mental health??? Or something similar to that like your troubled thoughts or something?? 2) which follows up after 1, there was this thing I saw, once, about how this black dog, long ears, kinda lazy and weighing down on its owner by acting like it was a lap dog—the black dog to represent depression.. I would not say I have depression, but I also wouldn’t say I don’t have it, either. I definitely got some anxiety issues, and anxiety can occasionally lead to depression.. also, 3) Irish Wolfhound, cause I was thinking of the Skyrim dogs, I like them, they’re cool, part of me wishes I did a Basset Hound as well, but, I’m already late on my fills, I need to catch up.
3: That’s a Chimera….. I think—look, the point is, why just one animal? People are complicated things, if an animal represents anything—is that people really can’t truly be described “if I was an animal, I would be____” I WOULD BE A SHAPESHIFTING SOMETHING OR OTHER, SO, CHIMERA! 🙌🏽 because people do be changing with time! … Also, imagine if, in this world.. all those magical/fantastical animals did exist… as peoples’ daemons and such.. that’d be kinda cool (if the other signs weren’t clear, this one should be the one to tell you… I have not read the book, and it’s been a long while since I even seen the movie so I am not aware of the “daemon rules” 🙂↕️). Also, this one would be my answer to the question, “what if your daemon represented your deepest, darkest thoughts/secrets/desires?” As someone who has been considered a “good/easy child,” my deepest darkest thoughts (AKA: my intrusive thoughts) occasionally scare me.. took me a while to finally laugh at them, but if I saw it manifested as a daemon.. a chimera??? … yeah, I dunno, I really dunno.
4: Originally I wanted to do a classic MCU Gratuitous self-insert… it was gonna be cringy (I would bet money on it, one of the cringiest), I don’t think it’d be considered much of a “classic” self-insert, cause I wasn’t gonna ship myself with anyone, I admit I was just gonna low-key kinda crash out about real world happenings and how all the superhero movies have a happy ending… among other things.. anyways—when thinking about a self-insert, I’m thinking about.. what would I do, in this world exactly?? Well, in the MCU, I’d spoil everything, cause I would time travel myself to a specific spot, and in this one with Daemons and such—I’d more or less just be keeping a low profile, doing some sightseeing… mostly cause; there are some worlds I’d like to interfere in, and there are others I would not… and others in which, if I do not know what is best, I rely on my default answer, which is always “no,” I would be a bystander, probably contemplating staying, cause I do indeed like the idea of a daemon, one to represent me/my soul/personality or whatever.
5: (Ignore the numbers on these last two, I kinda messed up)… this is my fill for Prompt 24: Vampire AU. Why? Cause if there be witches, it stands to reason there ought to be some vampires too, right? Right??… right??? … twas a gratuitous self-insert, first, so, sorry that this is the only one—it’s Dracula from Castlevania, that one cartoon/anime something or other, 🤷🏽♀️. I don’t consider this one my fill for bizarre crossover, though, I got different plans for that one. I thought Dracula was like a badger, kinda mean-looking… but the mean-looking is not as bad as when actually trying to be mean—holy crap, that show was a bit wild. I swear I was lulled into a false sense of security more than once… After a while of thinking about it, though, I was wondering—do vampires even have a soul???? Then I was like, screw it, I’m halfway through this doodle, and I need the fill, so. Here we are. I thought Dracula’s daemon would be a badger, cause not many people like badgers (foxes occasionally team up with them, though), and I thought daemons for vampires would be like they are for witches. Able to wander far away, if they so please… also, I’m 100% certain Dracula’s daemon would not be on board with the choices he made in the show, okay, I’m done.
6: … I don’t love my self-portrait drawing(s, especially) in this one. It was a little difficult, and honestly, I kinda wish I just gave it up, but also, I needed a better one for the daemon in doodle number 4… one of my final questions was.. “well, if it truly must only be one, and it cannot be a chimera, what would it be, to represent me, really?” And a north American porcupine was the answer. Why? Cause.. well.. porcupines very clearly do not want to be touched. I got an aversion to touch. 🤲🏽 y’see what I mean??? Also, that doesn’t mean a porcupine is all prickles, they got a soft belly with no quills. Then they got a special ability to produce their own medicine (don’t ask me about specifics, the memory fails me) in case they poke themselves. They lose their quills, if I remember correctly, they do indeed shed. And they can regrow and such… what I’m trying to say, is that I think they are resilient.. which is not.. exactly something I would say about myself, but.. something I’d say I try to be, at least. If this guy was my Daemon, that’s it, I’m staying in the world, no one can convince me otherwise. That’s me, just contemplating how to start a new life with my accurate soul-defining daemon. That’s it. (I’d more than likely stay for the Quetzal, too, but, that’s it, that’s really it, no other animal will do—except maybe one of the many hummingbird moths, okay I’m done.)
(Also, don’t talk to me about the inaccuracies of any of these drawings, I’m much more confident in drawing animals than I am with people, and I confess I traced—not very well—with Dracula, my expertise is in doodling and definitely not people.. and the chimera was weirdly harder than I thought it would be, I blame the lion, that thing’s head would not cooperate. 🤧)
Author: Oceantoast
Fandom: Hazbin Hotel
Rating: Mature
Characters/Pairings: Angel Dust/Valentino
Genres: Angst
Word count: 1,673
Summary:
Hell is other people is not an uncommon turn of phrase, or an uncommon sentiment in Hell; but this is just ridiculous.
Angel and Val body swap, and Angel quickly figures out that hell is not just other people, it's also yourself.
Notes: for @retrowrimay day 16 - body swap. CW for abuse and toxic relationship dynamics
Hey there, Oz-refugee; you took the wrong road, hatters and tea
Haymitch suspects that poor Lou Lou’s “dæmon” isn’t a dæmon at all.
Written for @retrowrimay Retro Writing May - Day 12: Dæmon Fic
and Fandom Free Bingo: Heroic - Prompt: Do Not Resuscitate
and Gen Prompt Bingo Round 29 - Prompt: Surprise/Shock
and Lyrical Titles Bingo 2025 - Prompt: Song with a title one word long ("Stay" - Savatage)
and 100 Fandoms - Prompt 52: Quell
READ ON AO3 (2267 words)
Excerpt:
“I think the ferret might be listening to us too. I don’t think it’s a dæmon at all; I think it’s some sort of mutt.”
Everyone else looked at him in surprise. Which, now that Haymitch had said it out loud, he felt a little ridiculous. What he’d said was crazy; the difference between a dæmon and an animal, even a mutt, was deeply and instinctively recognizable. The same way Haymitch had known immediately that the spider crawling on Beetee’s arm was the man’s dæmon and not some unwanted visitor, there should’ve been no possible way to confuse a mutt for a dæmon or vice versa. The thought that the Capitol could create a mutt that fooled people into thinking it was a dæmon, however imperfectly, was absurd. And viscerally, existentially horrifying, which made Haymitch think it was probably the truth as much as he fervently wished otherwise.
The others seemed to agree with him, as despite the insanity of his statement, Wiress looked thoughtful, and several dæmons grew agitated, whispering in their counterparts’ ears.
I'm writing a drabble a day for @retrowrimay! That means exactly 100 words per prompt, no wiggle room allowed. Today's drabble is a LOZ fic (Hero of Legend)
Link looked at his sister, who was actually him. And who was looking at him, who was actually her.
And whoever is the Queen has to greet foreign dignitaries in ten minutes.
"I can still fix this!" he shouts, his voice slightly too high to be his.
"I think we're out of time for that, Link!" his own voice tells him, with the stiff formality that only Zelda manages when she is stressed.
"I can't do this."
"Yes, you—"
"I will tell the Holodrum ambassador exactly what I think of him."
Alternatively: Happy Attack of the Clones day! Have some Anidala fluff, no strings attached!
Based on a conversation with @nesry-n from over two months ago. Written for the @retrowrimay 2026 prompts "True Drabble" (#26) and "Missing Scene" (#30).
Author: Oceantoast
Fandom: Hazbin Hotel, Lies of P
Rating: Mature
Characters/Pairings: Angel Dust/Pinocchio
Genres: Thriller, Angst
Word count: 1,075
Summary:
Being an informant was nothing new to Angel. If you weren't making money to pay the rent and you weren't risking your neck with impossible odds against corporations that would snuff you without a second thought all you really had was what you knew and your body.
This gig might just be biting off more than Angel can chew.
I'm writing a drabble a day for @retrowrimay! That means exactly 100 words per prompt, no wiggle room allowed. Today's drabble is… well it is a LOTR/Hunger Games crossover because I let the wife pick the two fandoms to crossover for this and she loves choosing violence and I love her.
When the war of the ring ended, and Sauron reclaimed the One Ring, there were many things that could have happened. That were foretold, prophesied even.
No one was prepared for the reality.
Maybe if they knew how high the stakes were, the people of the Third Age would have fought harder. Would have battled until the last man. Until world's ending.
But they didn't. And now, today's the reaping, here in Hobbiton.
That's right. It's been twenty years since Frodo was captured, and the Ring was returned to its master.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Todoroki Natsuo/Yaoyorozu Momo
Characters: Todoroki Natsuo, Yaoyorozu Momo
Additional Tags: Arranged Marriage, There Was Only One Bed, Angst
Series: Part 2 of MomoNatsu Arranged Marriage
Summary:
Despite having already been married for months, it is not until the beginning of summer vacation that they are sent on their honeymoon.
Doesn’t mean that they want to be there.
For @retrowrimay, using the prompts ‘only one bed’ and ‘arranged marriage’.
Anakin was used to disappointing his master. Or at least he thought he was. He’d certainly done it enough. So, disappointing this inexplicably teenaged version of his master hurt more than he expected.
.
3,084 words
@retrowrimay 2026, day 14: De-Aging
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Helpful link to AO3
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Anakin had been several systems away when it happened, in the middle of a dogfight, actually. It wasn’t until the battle had wrapped up and he had reported to the Jedi Council that anyone bothered to inform him of what had happened to his former Jedi master.
“He what?!” Anakin barked, turning on his heel to return to the bridge before the trooper could reply. At least he hadn’t made it that far from the holocomm yet. Niner nearly stumbled in his haste to catch back up with him.
“General Kenobi is a youngling, a shiny! Commander Tano-”
“Call her,” he cut off.
“Sir!”
Ahsoka must have been waiting for his call, because she appeared on the viewscreen almost immediately.
“Master Skywalker!” Ahsoka’s face was tense and worried.
“What happened?” he snapped. He wouldn’t believe it until he saw it.
“It’s Master Kenobi, he- I-” Ahsoka wrung her hands.
“Show me!” he commanded.
“Now, now,” said a teenage boy, walking into view of the holocomm. He had his hands out in front of him placatingly, and he angled himself in front of Ahsoka, as if to protect her from him. “There’s no need to shout.”
It was really him. He had never seen this version of Obi-Wan, except in pictures, but it was undoubtedly, unmistakably him. Unless it was a very good shapeshifter, in which case, why wouldn’t they copy his current age?
“How did this happen?” Anakin whispered. He listened to Ahsoka describe their expedition in the cave and studied the glowing blue orb that Obi-Wan had found and was now holding up to the holocomm for him to inspect. Apparently, Obi-Wan had retained all of his memories up until his body’s current age, his late teens. Years before he had met Anakin.
After Anakin’s fifth lamentation of his padawan’s poor judgment, young Obi-Wan stepped in front of Ahsoka again and chided him. “Enough. I am quite certain that the present circumstances are partially, if not all my fault.” Anakin quieted, yielding to his teenaged former master, though said teenager apparently didn’t remember being knighted, not to mention any of their years together. “What’s done is done,” the youngling lectured him. “I am sure Padawan Tano will include all the relevant details in her report.”
“Ever the peacekeeper,” Anakin remarked, a touch of bitterness leaking into his voice.
Obi-Wan visibly steeled himself before dipping into a deep bow. “I am humbly sorry for what mistakes I have made as your Master, Knight Skywalker.” Anakin froze. “I hope I can work to correct them.”
“Don’t say that,” Anakin winced, more than a little stung.
“However,” Obi-Wan continued smoothly. “There was more to Padawan Tano’s report.” Obi-Wan turned slightly to shift the focus to Ahsoka again, apparently not trusting him to pay enough attention to his own padawan.
“Master,” Ahsoka began. “The seppies sent in reinforcements. We have our forward base set up planetside, but they managed to chase off the Negotiator. Which means-”
“You’re stranded.” Anakin finished. “Osik.”
“Did I model such language for you when I was your Master?” Obi-Wan joked, awkwardly but lightly.
“Master Obi-Wan,” Anakin intoned, glad to be back on familiar footing. “You were never anything but the picture of refinement,” he returned lightheartedly. Ahsoka giggled at the well-worn joke, and Obi-Wan gave a pained smile, but he looked disturbed. Anakin wasn’t well-versed with Obi-Wan’s face at this age, but that looked to him like clear-cut Disappointment, through and through.
He could recognize it easily enough.
Anakin instinctively straightened, as if to win back the favor of a youngling. “Of course not, Master,” he coughed. “I just-”
“Do not fret, Master Skywalker.” Obi-Wan waved his hand dismissively. “Peace.” Well, it was definitely Obi-Wan, if he ever doubted. “I’m sure she’s heard worse,” Obi-Wan tried another joke.
“I’m sure she’s said worse,” Ahsoka said sarcastically, sounding annoyed that they were ignoring her, but Anakin couldn’t tear his eyes away from the little, flickering image of his master, so young and yet still so serious. Anakin had had this once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a better first impression and he had karked it up yet again.
Kark!
~~~
Everyone was used to General Obi-Wan Kenobi running himself ragged in the war, but this teenaged Obi-Wan took it to a whole new level. Once Anakin arrived planetside, the Council cleared Obi-Wan for the frontlines, citing how far into his apprenticeship with Qui-Gon Jinn he was mentally. Ahsoka told him how Obi-Wan had been chomping at the bit to help, distraught by every failed skirmish. Physically, Obi-Wan was still older than Ahsoka was at Christophsis, so Anakin had no way to protest.
Despite Anakin and Ahsoka having years more experience in this war than Obi-Wan, he was constantly throwing himself in front of them, like it was his duty to protect them, like they couldn’t take care of themselves, like the Force had sent him to singlehandedly win the war. Kark, even Ahsoka wasn’t this reckless.
Anakin’s mood darkened with every reminder that his master didn’t trust him. “You were supposed to stay back and defend the tower!” He shouted at the teenager.
“I couldn’t let you have all the fun!” Obi-Wan quipped, but Anakin could feel the fear Obi-Wan was dumping into the force.
“Just let me handle this!” Anakin leaped to finish off a droideka before Obi-Wan decided to leap in front of it or something. Why won’t the boy just trust him? He trained him after all!
“A good Jedi asks for help when he needs it,” Obi-Wan reminded him, moving over to cover his blind spot.
“I know that,” Anakin grit out. “I didn’t need help.”
“Why do you take all this burden on you, Knight Skywalker?”
Anakin couldn’t see the teen since they were fighting back-to-back, but he could picture the exasperated look on his face. “We’re in a war, fighting Sith. This might be where I bring balance to the Force.”
Obi-Wan didn’t freeze, but Anakin could tell he was rattled. “You’re the Chosen One?”
He didn’t have to sound so shocked about it.
Anakin pursed his lips. “Qui-Gon believed so.” Thankfully, that seemed like the last of the droids, so Anakin could turn to see how Obi-Wan was receiving this revelation.
“Oh, Anakin.” Obi-Wan looked anguished. “That’s too much responsibility.”
Anakin shifted uncomfortably. “I can handle it,” he insisted.
“And they told you when you were 10?”
“9, actually.” Anakin corrected. Obi-Wan looked appalled at the idea, but Anakin would much rather know and prepare to shoulder such a burden than to be judged silently against a standard that no one told him about. “Would you have preferred that they lie to me?”
“No, but I-”
“Generals! Reinforcements!” Obi-Wan was cut off by their communicator, and they hurled themselves back into the fray.
~~~
Though he had never known Obi-Wan at this age, Anakin found himself ruminating on his past with Obi-Wan a lot.
Anakin knew he had never been what Obi-Wan had wanted, but still he had tried to make Obi-Wan happy that he had kept him. That he had chosen him over his precious Council, the one blemish on his master’s probably sterling record. Anakin knew that Obi-Wan had done it out of duty to Qui-Gon Jinn, but in his most private moments, Anakin liked to think Obi-Wan would have chosen him on his own merits, in some other universe, had he been given the chance.
Anakin had never been foolish enough to let himself believe that, though.
It had been especially bad those first few years, when Anakin was too clingy and emotional, and it was all “you mustn’t cling so much in public, Anakin,” and “you must sleep in your own room tonight, Anakin,” and “you must give me some time alone so I can meditate, Anakin.” Instead of the solo training and missions that made up other padawan’s days, Obi-Wan had enrolled him in initiate classes, which unfortunately endeared Anakin to neither fellow initiates nor fellow padawans. He wouldn’t even let Anakin leave the temple for years, his mistrust ran so deep. This of course had only served to make Anakin more stir-crazy.
Once they were finally able to start running missions out in the real world, though, Anakin took to the work quickly. He was good at it, and he loved doing it. Well, most aspects. He had never taken to the fancy dinner aspect of the diplomatic missions Obi-Wan was so skilled at. He was much better at the aggressive negotiations portion of those missions.
Outside the dinners though, the missions had bonded them together, almost like brothers (if one of the brothers had to call one master, and the other brother always had critiques of the one’s performance). Anakin learned that every instinct he had was unwise or Dark or otherwise against the Code and, despite Obi-Wan’s accusations of bullheadedness, he had learned to adapt around the Order’s decrees.
Anakin had felt like he and Obi-Wan had finally gotten to a good place, now that he was a Knight. Kark, Anakin had his own apprentice now, and he could start to understand some of the fear Obi-Wan must have felt when Anakin was reckless, some of the confidence he had to project even when he wasn’t feeling it but his padawan needed it, some of the pride when she finally took his lessons to heart.
Obi-Wan had commended him many times for how well he and Ahsoka worked together, and he felt certain that the Force had brought them together for a reason.
Teenaged Obi-Wan must not share that same certainty.
.
“I’d like to help Ahsoka with her meditation.” Obi-Wan approached him on the bridge, while Ahsoka was training with Rex.
“That’s fine,” Anakin said, without looking up from his reports. “You usually do, since I’m so garbage at it.”
Silence hung in the air for a few seconds too long. Anakin chanced a glance up to find a familiar troubled look on young Obi-Wan’s face.
“I usually help you train your padawan?” Obi-Wan confirmed hesitantly.
“The war doesn’t exactly allow for a rigid training schedule.” Anakin snapped the datapad closed, trying not to take offense at Obi-Wan’s implicit criticism. “All of the masters kind of pitch in to help any padawans they happen to be around.” Obi-Wan waited him out, somehow knowing theirs was a bit of a special case.
“What about before the war?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Before the war,” Anakin sighed. “I was still your padawan. It was a wartime promotion, and they surprised me with a padawan during the battle of Christophsis.”
“Did you feel ready to take on a padawan?” Obi-Wan asked carefully, face placidly neutral. Rather at odds with the chagrin he was releasing into the Force.
“Not at all.” Anakin followed his lead and gathered up his frustration by the handful and chucked it into the Force. “I think she was supposed to go to you, but Yoda stepped in.”
Obi-Wan’s face darkened, but cleared quickly. “I see,” he said lightly.
What does he see, Anakin worried. “You said that you felt it was the will of the Force,” Anakin couldn’t stop himself from adding. Pathetic. “I’m doing my best.”
Obi-Wan stepped closer and cupped his cheek gently. “I’m sure you are, my dear.” Obi-Wan left the bridge to meditate with Ahsoka, and Anakin tried not to reel back like he had been slapped in the face.
~~~
Having finally driven off the remnants of the Separatist forces from the planet, Anakin and company were finally onboard the Negotiator, ready to go back to Coruscant. Well, sort of.
“So, we obviously need to get you and that orb back to the Jedi Archives, so we can crack this curse or whatever, but we’re on the Outer Rim. Even if we took the straightest shot possible, it would still take months, and General Obi-Wan Kenobi can’t be out of commission for that long, teenager or no,” Anakin debriefed bluntly, still settling from the taxing Council meeting he had just left. “We’ll be taking the roundabout route back to the Core, providing aid to a few battlefronts on the way. However, we’re limited to in-space engagements. No one wants any seppie generals to figure out that your beard isn’t as long as it should be.”
“Hmm,” Obi-Wan hummed, stroking his scraggly stubble.
“Of course, there are far more active ‘negotiation’ fronts than battle fronts in our path, which the Council bemoaned incessantly,” Anakin recounted, more than a little annoyed. He carefully avoided Obi-Wan’s worried gaze.
“At least that means we can skip all the stuck-up negotiations with snooty people that don’t seem to care that people are dying,” Ahsoka commented, slouching in her chair.
“Do neither of my successors care for the art of diplomacy?” Obi-Wan asked lightly, glancing between them.
“Ha, Skyguy?!” Ahsoka snorted. “You compare him to a rancor in a tea shop all the time!” Obi-Wan froze, disappointment welling in the Force. Ahsoka glanced over at Anakin with clear worry, but he did not look at her. “Master Kenobi?” she asked tentatively.
The sour feeling in the Force disappeared like it was never there. “Sorry, my dear. Please, carry on, Anakin.”
So Anakin continued, his sour mood souring further.
~~~
Anakin strode down the hall with a purpose. All this having complex emotions and dumping them in the force was taxing, and he had finally relented to try meditating. He was surprised to find Ahsoka in the meditation room, but he soon realized she wasn’t there to meditate as much as she was to bother the room’s other occupant.
“Tell me another!” she commanded.
Obi-Wan chuckled, gazing at her softly. “Pick a letter, my dear.”
“F!”
“Hmm, how about Ferro? The original inhabitants had long since abandoned their homeworld for a mysterious planet called Sekot or Zonoma Sekot, the mission briefing was a bit unclear. But Master Jinn and I were sent to investigate the ruins there and-”
Anakin waited to enter until Ahsoka had left.
He settled into a standard meditation pose beside Obi-Wan, then hesitated. Perhaps they could chat a little before he started. Obi-Wan clearly expected them to and was waiting patiently for Anakin to interrupt his meditation.
“You know, you and I went to Ferro, too,” Anakin started casually. “You never told me that you caused a cave-in with Qui-Gon, too.”
“I caused a cave-in a second time, did I?” Obi-Wan asked, tone light, but body tense. He probably didn’t believe him.
“No, that one was me, actually,” Anakin confessed. “I might have … lost control of my temper. A bit. You were very cross.”
“Of course, I was,” Obi-Wan agreed with a sardonic grin.
Anakin exhaled suddenly, standing smoothly from his meditative pose. “Okay, I’m gonna go tear apart a droid or something.”
Obi-Wan’s eyes flew open. “Wait, Anakin. Why are you leaving?”
All of the frustration and inadequacy and fear finally boiled over, and Anakin snapped. “Look, Master, you don’t even have your memories, and you’re still so disappointed in me. Forgive me if I need to blow off some steam.”
“Disappointed?” Obi-Wan looked shocked. Whether at finally being seen through or called out, Anakin wasn’t sure. “Why ever would you say that?”
“How can you even protest?” Anakin responded hotly. “It’s on your face as clear as day! You dump mountains of it into the force every time you’re around me! You’re disgusted AGAIN that I made a mistake like that, and you don’t even remember it!”
His Master, his real Master Kenobi, had practically raised him and, as such, was entitled to think whatever he wanted of Anakin, no matter how much Anakin hated it. What made this- this pretender think he had the right-
“Anakin, darling, no. Don’t-” Obi-Wan scrambled to his feet. “I- I’m afraid I did this all wrong.”
Anakin scoffed.
“Anakin, please,” Obi-Wan reached out, but paused just shy of actually touching him. “Will you give a young old man a second to give you a full explanation? I’m afraid I’ve done a terrible job as your master-”
“To have gotten a padawan to turn out like me,” Anakin finished his sentence. Now that they’re apparently airing all this out, he won’t stand to be managed like a politician.
“Please please,” Obi-Wan repeated, looking at him like his heart was breaking. Anakin felt nothing but sincerity in the force and stayed where he was, though every fiber of his body screamed to be elsewhere.
“I have … many faults,” Obi-Wan started. “You may not like to hear about them, but please indulge me. I was almost not accepted as a padawan. Everyone said that I was too angry, too impulsive, too attached … Does that sound familiar?”
Despite the completely unbelievable statements Obi-Wan was saying, there was no lie in the force. Only regret, but … perhaps that was directed at himself and not Anakin, he finally realized.
“I had promised myself that I would correct myself and do better. That I would not burden the people I love with those weaknesses. That I would be the perfect Jedi everyone said I could never be.” Obi-Wan smiled ruefully. “It may seem to you that I succeeded, but every bitterness you hold for me, and rightly so, is proof that I did not. And the disappointment you feel in the Force is at myself for failing you. You deserved so much better than you got, Anakin. I don’t need my memories to know that.”
Could it be true? Had he been misreading his Master all these years? He had been so certain that he was feeling disappointment in the Force that he didn’t question who it could be directed at. Anakin felt overwhelmed and cut Obi-Wan off with a firm, “I need to go.”
His droids were about to get the upgrade of their lives.
~~~
The next morning, Anakin stopped by Obi-Wan’s quarters. The teenager invited him in for tea. Anakin stayed quiet until they both had a steaming cup of tea to hold, a trick Obi-Wan had taught him.
“You?” he started. “Angry?”
“Oh yes,” Obi-Wan nodded. “They almost threw me out for starting a fight.”
“For real?!” Anakin was astonished.
“I was partly goaded into starting it but yes. I imagine I was very vigilant about you having the same problem.” Obi-Wan answered apologetically.
“...yes.” Anakin admitted.
“Thank you for your honesty.” Obi-Wan smiled.
Anakin sipped more tea. “What a pair we make.”
“Quite the pair,” Obi-Wan agreed.
They sipped their tea, before heading for the bridge to start their day.
.
Obi-Wan: Neither of my successors care for the art of the deal?
Ahsoka: Ha, Skyguy wouldn’t be anywhere near diplomacy if it weren’t for Senator Padme
.
I hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know what you thought! (pls be kind T.T)
Author: Oceantoast
Fandom: Lies of P
Rating: Mature
Characters/Pairings: Romeo/Pinocchio
Genres: Action/Angst
Word count: 1,325
Summary:
Pinocchio had always liked watching the waves, being sent on adventures, feeling the wind beneath his skin. He's never told what it's building towards and it all comes crashing to a halt when he's kidnapped by a band of pirates. Surely his stay is only temporary....
...right?
“Hippie douches, bet they are wearing sunglasses indoors.”
“Better than murdering half of Chicago.”
“And since when are shifters in the coffee business?”
“Since they need a new inconspicuous alias. Hell, Dean, you serious?”
“Come on, green shirts, wishing everyone a ‘bright day’. That's a total douche thing to do.”
“And killing those shifters. And apart from that …” Sam smiled at Dean brightly and leaned in to press a quick peck to Dean's lips. “You look absolutely delicious.”
Dean gave him a long glance. “Your coffee will be extra foamy, promise.”
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Hatsume Mei & Midoriya Izuku, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku, Izumi Kouta & Midoriya Izuku
Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Hatsume Mei, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Izumi Kouta, Dark Shadow (My Hero Academia), Tsutsumi Kaina | Lady Nagant, Iida Tenya, Fukukado Emi | Ms. Joke
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Project Hail Mary Fusion, Eridian Hatsume Mei
Summary:
