Latest Posts by bi-focal12 - Page 11

Thinking about Edward Elric as the Amestrian Military's specialest little unfireable boy

State alchemists can be fired for underperforming. We know this up front from the likes of Shou Tucker. And this makes a ton of sense from the homunculi's standpoint since the state alchemists are sacrifice candidates, and the homunculi would want to cull the weakest candidates and focus only on cultivating the strongest ones who stand the best chance of opening the portal.

........Then there's Edward. Who's already opened the portal.

There's no need to cultivate him. No gamble taken on whether he's good enough to open the portal. He passed the final test already. Graduated 4 semesters early.

And as such, has a free pass to do Absolute Fuck All.

And I'm imagining how funny this is from like an outside perspective.

Some newish state alchemist who'd only ever read up on the stories of Edward Elric, ready and excited to start their career of being paid handsomely with endless freedom to research and travel and do anything they want in the pursuit of science... surprised and confused to find themselves put on probation their first month for things like "ignoring orders." Which is, as best they had thought, a famous Edward Elric pastime.

Roy showing a slight bit of stress about his yearly state alchemist report, and Ed just snorting and rolling his eyes at Roy because every year HE just hastily does his on the train ride over (canon in the manga, a travesty it was left out of the anime) and it gets rubber stamped. Ed not realizing that other alchemists' reports get genuinely scrutinized and torn apart while Ed is free to turn in whatever absolute bullshit he thinks of 36 hours ahead of time. One year his report was about whether alchemy could be done via dance (conclusion: no it can't) and no one cared. Roy WANTS to tell Ed there's some kind of unknown favoritism around Ed making him literally bullet-proof but Roy has no way to phrase this that doesn't sound like he's just in denial and mad at how good Ed's train-reports are.

Guy from the Internal Amestrian Affairs sector who's responsible for auditing other internal military personel for any suspicious activity hitting about 1 million red flags for Edward Elric, issuing a STRONG and URGENT recommendation to suspend the alchemist pending further investigation into things like "literal bunk-buddies with two members of the Xingese royalty (enemy nation)" and "spent $10,000,000 of his stipend on a librarian to make her re-copy (what he seemed to interpret as?) military records in some extremely transparent effort to unearth state secrets (it was a recipe book but he was literally asking her about state secrets)" and "literally has never once obeyed an order, ever, not even once in his career, and is on public record having said 'I do not care about the goals and protections of the Amestrian Military. I am in fact only pursuing my own interests several of which are diametrically opposed to the safety and well-being of the governing body of Amestris'"

The issued recommendation is intercepted before it even reaches its intended desk. President Bradley himself has taken issue with it and denies it before a single set of eyes has seen it. The President's veto stamp is a terrifying hammer, used rarely, and it is now sitting on the auditor's desk.

The auditor sleeps with one eye open from then on out.

how are the manga readers feeling

Psych (2006) really is just "Hi, we're detectives with the police department, and here's this weird guy who follows us around. No we can't stop him. We like him. Also here's his best friend. We can't stop him either. We tried."

bus ride

reblog if you're completely okay with me asking stuff about your wip in your inbox! <3

here's a list of books I've read and would recommend as well as books from my to-read list for Pride Month!

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers: a solarpunk novella that discusses existential purpose from the perspective of a nonbinary narrator who meets a sentient robot years after robots decided to stop working and disappear into the wilderness. A great read that I found very soothing!

We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson: a YA sci-fi novel that follows a grieving high-schooler who gets routinely abducted by aliens. I read this one in the eight grade and as a kid who was unknowingly struggling with depression and had just learned that the word 'bisexual' existed, this was a pretty important read for me so even though I haven't read it in years it deserves an honorary place. CW: past suicide of the narrator's bf

Burning Roses by S.L Huang: a novella that combines European fairytales and Chinese mythology. It follows two middle-aged queer women as they reflect on their lives and chase down a deadly threat together. Told largely in flashback, I found this story very hopeful.

Blue Period (manga & anime) by Tsubasa Yamaguchi: had to toss this one in here as I adore BP. While not a romantic story, BP is about the discovery of artistic passion and the highs and lows of pursuing what makes you feel alive (and I find it to be relatable, refreshing, and inspiring tbh). In volumes 1-6 (and the anime), a secondary, genderqueer character has a fairly prominent storyline, told largely via the main character's changing perceptions of them. If you do give it a watch, I personally feel that the sub version hits harder.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune: I'm very excited to read this one (i love me some sentient robots lol) and have high hopes for the emotional depth. Here's the first bit of the synopsis. "Deep in the heart of a peculiar forest, in a strange little home built into the branches of trees, is a family assembled from spare parts: three robots- fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, a small vacuum desperate for love and attention- and a human, Victor Lawson."

The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska: Google says it's a gripping, dark sapphic YA fantasy about two girls who must choose between saving themselves, each other, or their sinking island home. I love to see sapphic rep and truly hope this book delivers!

Feel free to drop more recs in the comments or share your thoughts about the books on this list!

girls girls girls!!!

sometimes I look back on my past writing and think it’s the worst thing ever written but occasionally there will be a killer line hidden in there that saves me from the depths of despair

like, yeah I wouldn’t write it that away again if given the chance but that one line?? etch it in stone, my guy

sponsored by this line from a merthur s1 ep03 re-write I wrote ages ago (you can find it here if you’d like)

“All he could see was Merlin walking peacefully from the room, his stupid neckerchief flowerless and hanging from his throat like a poor man’s noose.

When his father adjourned the council, Arthur was still trying to figure out where in the folds of that tattered fabric a part of himself was hidden because he had ceased to be whole the second his manservant disappeared around the corner.”

currently gearing up for the 24hr Novel Challenge but I'm unsure which WIP to focus on. any thoughts?

Option 1: An original story I'd have to start from scratch (queer romance/horror)

-focuses on religious guilt and societal pressure

Option 2: An in-progress fanfiction I have big plans for (but am missing the notebook I wrote some of said plans in, rip) (queer romance/ coming-of-age/ historical drama)

-focuses on isolation, mental health, and grief

Option 3: An in-progress fanfiction with a less clear vision but the need for a pretty substantial length (queer fantasy/romance)

-focuses on tyranny, morality, and sibling bonds

MHA ch 424 spoilers

The fact that Katsuki had been imagining a future with Izuku and then is gutted when he finds out Izuku’s quirkless again is making me clinically insane

Katsuki, when he finds out he might never regain use of his arm again: fuck that shit! I’ll be the best at rehab!!

Katsuki, when he finds out Izuku doesn’t have his quirk anymore: *crying, sobbing, throwing up* I guess I just thought..we’d be competing…and I’d be on your heels..for the rest of our lives :(((

And then you have Deku, sweating bullets in his hospital bed bc he’s never seen Kacchan cry like this before: Um! I uh…I still got that ember for now!!!

Deku, desperately rationalizing: Being all banged up must be making Kacchan emotionally vulnerable…yeah, that’s it

As if Katsuki Bakugou’s dying words weren’t “Izuku..can I still catch up to you?”

Horikoshi pls let them hug, I’m begging you 🙏🙏

Fractal | Shouto & Touya Todoroki | poetry/prose | 580 words

Shouto’s world changed when he woke up in the hospital. 

Touya’s world changed when he woke up in the hospital.

His face had been burned, the doctor told him. 

He had burned his body, a stranger told him.

Shouto remembered the shouting. 

Touya remembered the desperation.

The kind of argument that felt like it shook the walls around him. 

The disappointment in his father’s eyes, twisting up his insides as Endeavor shouted and raged and forced Touya to stop. 

(He was being burnt up)

(He was being replaced)

Long after the echoes of his father’s voice had faded, Shouto remembered walking into the kitchen. 

He remembered watching his mother’s unmoving form while she refused to say anything- anything- and then Touya blazed out the door without looking back to see if her expression had crumpled with regret.

He remembered watching his mother’s face flit from terror to anguish in the span of a breath as he entered, looking like she had been shattered by his soft-footed, pattering approach. 

By then, Touya knew better than to search for regret in his father’s eyes. 

And then the woman before him became unrecognizable.

Endeavor didn’t think Touya was strong enough but he was. He could be. 

Shouto burned with the memory of a pain more intense than any he’d ever felt before. 

Touya remembered the screaming in his veins, remembered the burn- harsher than anything he’d ever felt before. Remembered a startling break in the anguish and thinking, with his last shred of clarity, that this had to be good enough for his father. 

It left Shouto numb and shivering beneath the thin, white hospital sheets. 

It had to be. 

“Mom..?” Shouto croaked and the doctor shook his head no.  

It had to be. 

Shouto didn’t cry when he saw the scar marring his face, but something inside of him felt sick.

Touya didn’t cry when he saw his mottled, purple reflection held together by crude stitches. Or when they told him he had died. 

Shouto let the shock pool over him like ice and held the freezing shards close to his chest, hoping that they might be enough to douse the monstrous pain in his chest. 

The disappointment was his own when he realized that he hadn’t been enough, after all. That he never was and never would be. 

Shouto thought of the heat that always seemed to lick at his father’s eyes and fists when he shouted- warm enough to be felt even when Shouto couldn’t see the flames through his closed eyes or hear the words through his ragged, warbling breaths. 

The bitterness was his own, too, but the expression in the mirror was startlingly familiar. 

Heat thrummed uneasily beneath Shouto’s veins and the second he realized that the fire within himself was nothing more than his father’s furious legacy, pawned off onto Shouto like a lead shackle, was the second that Shouto Todoroki decided to freeze. 

The second that Touya realized he was wearing the face his father had always greeted him with was the second time Touya Todoroki died and left a rotten shell of himself to walk the earth. 

Shouto cast his eyes downward and didn’t respond to the doctor. 

He didn’t notice that his father couldn’t look him in the eye. 

Shouto grew older and decided that he and his mother were both victims of Endeavor. 

Touya grew smarter and decided that the world would soon know who had driven him to an early death.

Types Of Writer’s Block (And How To Fix Them)

1. High inspiration, low motivation. You have so many ideas to write, but you just don’t have the motivation to actually get them down, and even if you can make yourself start writing it you’ll often find yourself getting distracted or disengaged in favour of imagining everything playing out

Try just bullet pointing the ideas you have instead of writing them properly, especially if you won’t remember it afterwards if you don’t. At least you’ll have the ideas ready to use when you have the motivation later on

2. Low inspiration, high motivation. You’re all prepared, you’re so pumped to write, you open your document aaaaand… three hours later, that cursor is still blinking at the top of a blank page

RIP pantsers but this is where plotting wins out; refer back to your plans and figure out where to go from here. You can also use your bullet points from the last point if this is applicable

3. No inspiration, no motivation. You don’t have any ideas, you don’t feel like writing, all in all everything is just sucky when you think about it

Make a deal with yourself; usually when I’m feeling this way I can tell myself “Okay, just write anyway for ten minutes and after that, if you really want to stop, you can stop” and then once my ten minutes is up I’ve often found my flow. Just remember that, if you still don’t want to keep writing after your ten minutes is up, don’t keep writing anyway and break your deal - it’ll be harder to make deals with yourself in future if your brain knows you don’t honour them

4. Can’t bridge the gap. When you’re stuck on this one sentence/paragraph that you just don’t know how to progress through. Until you figure it out, productivity has slowed to a halt

Mark it up, bullet point what you want to happen here, then move on. A lot of people don’t know how to keep writing after skipping a part because they don’t know exactly what happened to lead up to this moment - but you have a general idea just like you do for everything else you’re writing, and that’s enough. Just keep it generic and know you can go back to edit later, at the same time as when you’re filling in the blank. It’ll give editing you a clear purpose, if nothing else

5. Perfectionism and self-doubt. You don’t think your writing is perfect first time, so you struggle to accept that it’s anything better than a total failure. Whether or not you’re aware of the fact that this is an unrealistic standard makes no difference

Perfection is stagnant. If you write the perfect story, which would require you to turn a good story into something objective rather than subjective, then after that you’d never write again, because nothing will ever meet that standard again. That or you would only ever write the same kind of stories over and over, never growing or developing as a writer. If you’re looking back on your writing and saying “This is so bad, I hate it”, that’s generally a good thing; it means you’ve grown and improved. Maybe your current writing isn’t bad, if just matched your skill level at the time, and since then you’re able to maintain a higher standard since you’ve learned more about your craft as time went on

Lost for words | bi_focal

Tags: Bakugou & Izuku, post-war, introspection, friendship/love, fluff (could be read as gen or slash)

Summary: Where Bakugou feels guilty about their childhood, Izuku doesn't know what to say, and they find that they don't need many words to communicate, after all.

Izuku lets his gaze drop to Kacchan’s fists, instead, and finds them clenched so tight he’s surely leaving half-moon impressions on his palms. There’s no smoke leaking out between his bone-white knuckles but, then again, Kacchan has always had impeccable control of his quirk. And they had always communicated better with their hands, hadn’t they?

1,690 words

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56130106

(i'm pretty proud of this one, guys)

Currently obsessed with katsuki and izuku holding hands post-war, whether you read it as platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between.

For Katsuki, it’s an opportunity to re-live that moment in the river and make a different choice. He can reaffirm that he’s turning over a new leaf and that Deku is there, alive and strong and still reaching out after all these years. It probably helps solidify for him that Deku does forgive him, especially on days where Katsuki still struggles to forgive himself.

And for izuku, you could argue that a large part of his life has been an exercise in reaching out and being rejected, over and over again. But with Kacchan, he gets a physical reminder that someone’s reaching back for him (someone who’s strong enough to keep him grounded and who he’s never, not once, stopped reaching out for). It’s a reaffirmation of their friendship and growing bond and proof that Katsuki didn’t die out on the battlefield. That he’s right there. That they’re equals. Partners, even.

And when they’re both each others biggest weakness and strongest ally, I’m sure the comfort of just being together would go a long way, too. For once in their lives they could be silly teenagers holding hands while playing a video game or watching a movie or doing homework or taking a walk or-

Just- handholding as a gesture of devotion and safety and new beginnings

Just felt like I needed to freak out a little bit about how Katsuki had the All Might card physically on him when he died. Not tucked away somewhere safe, not in a locker or in a card binder, actually physically with him as he fought Shigaraki

Because for all the grief he gives Izuku about sentimentality, keeping a card on him that specifically ties him to Izuku is about as sentimental as it is possible for a person to be

Emerald Isles | bi_focal

-an excerpt- -bkdk-

Summary: Izuku’s been hit with a quirk that translates his emotions into colored patches on his skin, and anyone who touches him can feel those emotions. He tries to hide it…until he doesn’t.

Tags: fluff, love confessions, communication

No archive warnings | 4,077 words

Katsuki shrugged. Tried to appear calmer than he felt. “Depends,” he hedged. One glance at the nerd told Katsuki he could see right through him. “Close your eyes.”

Regardless, Deku obliged. Katsuki took a steadying inhale and breathed out, “I feel the same. About you.”

A wobbly smile overtook Deku’s lips and he pushed his face into the side of his mattress. It looked to Katsuki like he was trying to smother the pure force of his excitement so as to not frighten him off. Deku didn’t yet realize that Katsuki wasn’t scared of this. Of them. That it actually felt a lot like reaching safe harbor after weeks spent lost in a storm-ridden sea. Then Deku turned his head, cheek still resting against the blanket, mouth still smiling, eyes still closed, and said, “Even the years of misunderstood childhood admiration?”

It was a lighthearted comment and Katsuki knew he was meant to concede agreement here. Lean into the joke and accept Deku’s unwavering patience with grace. Accept his forgiveness. Deku quirked a brow in concern when Katsuki stayed silent. “Kacchan?” he asked. “I didn’t-”

“It was repressed but it was there,” Katsuki conceded instead.

Katsuki 100% had a twisted form of respect for Izuku in childhood and I’ll die on that hill. Why else would deku be perceived as a threat at all instead of just another extra? If Deku’s quirklessness really made him useless why would Bakugou try so hard to force Deku into a power hierarchy?? In this essay I will-

really love dynamics that are like 'it honestly doesn't matter if you view them as romantic or platonic, the point is that they love each other. the type of love is inconsequential, all that matters is that it's there'. gotta be one of my favorite genders.

me, to characters im intentionally making suffer for the Plot:

in related news, i was working on a seroroki time traveler x immortal fic today (that im super excited abt) and i started it in Greece in the year 400 smth BC but then i realized i need to make some huuge time jumps to make the plot work right

and as i typed out the +212yrs all i could think about was immortal todoroki having to live through all that time not knowing if sero was ever coming back :( or if he'd been abandoned :( :(

as if i didnt contrive this whole thing, lol

me, bodily shoving Sukuna into the slice of life genre: you’ll be less evil and you’ll like it, damnit!

Little Troubles | bi_focal

Archive warnings: none

Category: gen (for now, itafushi and Nobara/maki will show up later)

Ch: 1/?

WC: 1,829

Summary: A glimpse into Yuuji’s day-to-day life if he swallowed Sukuna’s finger 1yr earlier and just ran with it

Fic is ongoing! Chapter 2 coming soon to a theatre near you!

A snippet from one of my more recent bkdk fics! It's called Bedside Manner by me, bi_focal :)

Deku sighed heavily and started walking closer. “Haven’t we decided that murder isn’t the proper solution to anything?”

“We haven’t decided shit,” Katsuki shot back, holding a palm flat across Deku’s chest to stop him from moving any further. “You’re sick. Go lie down before I shove this thermometer down your throat.”

“I’m not sick,” Deku argued, and when he tried to move around Katsuki he tightened his grip, twisting the material of Deku’s school shirt in his fist. “Kacchan-”

“If you’re not sick then kiss me,” Katsuki said, bringing up his free hand to tap his lips twice in quick succession. “Right now.”

Deku’s eyes grew wide and he fought a little harder against Katsuki’s grip, his limbs lethargic and weak. “But we can’t!”

“Because you’re sick,” Katsuki agreed.

“Because- because PDA!” Deku protested.

“I don’t think we have any rules about that Midobro,” Shitty Hair said. “Do we class pres?”

“We do not,” Glasses agreed, chopping his arm down in the air like a robot. “We are simply concerned about your wellbeing, Midoriya.”

“My being is well,” he countered. “I just…I just…Kacchan,” he said suddenly, twisting up his face so that he looked like a kicked puppy. “I- I don’t want to disappoint you but I’m really not comfortable kissing in front of the whole class.”

“Low blow dude,” someone murmured.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes but Deku kept up the act surprisingly well. “Everyone turn the fuck around,” he barked, and Katsuki didn’t have to turn his gaze from Deku’s shocked face to know that instructions were followed. “Kiss me.”

“I have morning breath.”

“Don’t care.”

“I bit my lip earlier and it hurts,” he tried instead.

Katsuki raised a brow at his uninjured lips.

“It hurts on the inside?” Deku amended.

“That would be the cold. Just admit that you’re sick fuckface.”

“Kacchan,” Deku groaned, “this is ridiculous. Just because I don’t want to kiss you with everyone listening in doesn’t mean I’m sick.”

Please feel free to check it out on ao3 or reach out to me here!