>There is literally absolutely no difference between Soul and Maka's relationship so far as what's presented in canon goes. They still fight together, they still argue, they still resolve to become stronger together. Now if you want headcanon so far as how they interacted when they first partnered up, their resonance was a lot weaker as though Maka himself tried to open up for the sake of the partnership, Soul was a tougher nut to crack. The words "snotty princess" and "country bumpkin" might have been exchanged (though Death City is a city of repute and hardly "out in the country"). But insults and more insults obviously didn't get them anywhere and they had to work through getting their wavelengths to sync properly on their own, even with hard-knocks lessons like Soul making the (very worrying oh no why would you say that am I not strong enough??) declaration that she'd die for her Meister (and almost doing it). Maka was first attracted to Soul when he heard her piano playing and that struck a chord deep within him. He didn't entirely understand it, but if it was something his gut was telling him of course he'd go with it first.
>Much as Maka hates to admit it, he is naturally cheerful and gregarious towards others, and that is something he picked up from being raised by Spirit (y'know, when he used to love his father) even if that's not the image he wants to present (lest people say he's just like his father) as Spirit's son he feels more pressure (even if it's subtle) to act like him though he would prefer to follow the example of his mother. Yes, he worried if he's too friendly to someone, they'd draw some comparison between him and his (very very very well-known) father. But that's not how his mother would want him to be feeling, he knows, and Maka didn't feel necessarily comfortable with being friendly or being distant; he tried to balance the two, but neither was very effective for what he was trying to accomplish in life. Meisters don't work alone after all, they have partners and team members. After the stint with Soul in the first place and Crona later on, he discovered that opening yourself up to another person to offer them friendship does a lot of healing, personally and for target. Later on when his unwillingness to work with Black*Star's…well, overpowering personality was failing to achieve team resonance with his friends, Maka hit a wall of frustration that was solved, yet again, by realizing opening yourself up to ~friendship~ was the way instead of trying to force doing it on your own. Likewise, during the battle against Asura, he was reminded that he can rely on the stronger members of his team as well when he was in a pinch when Black*Star saved him from numerous stab attempts. If you think it's absurd that he and his female counterpart have to be constantly reminded of the power of friendship and how important it is and more powerful it makes you, I swear that's not me, it's Ohkubo's writing. And I haven't even mentioned all the times both versions of Maka had to be reminded of the power of relying on your friends in accordance with canon history.
>Speaking of Maka's emotions, they're incredibly volatile, and that's when he's actively trying to keep them in check (though he doesn't actually try that hard because it's stupid and people are stupid). Once Soul entered the picture that went all out the window, he would openly get into fights with her and criticize her bad habits while she returned the favor (and tugged on his face) all through the awkward beginning stages of their partnership.
When the word of how much Maka hated his father and constantly rejected him got around (remember the divorce was still pretty recent at the beginning of the series, even if the series has arguably gone through a time skip since then) people…avoided bringing up his dad around him. Thank god. They suffered a lot less poisonous glares and non-verbal threats of being hit over the head with books. Instead they (more often meaning the authority figures in Maka's life, whom he always treated with respect regardless of their association with Spirit) would bring up what a promising young Meiser he's becoming, just like his mother, which served to bolster his confidence, though that is always supported by his courage. Courage is nothing special, he'd say, since it's a natural feeling in a human being, just like being afraid is natural, and you learn your courage from being afraid. But it's especially potent in him as it serves to push Maka over the edge in anything, even—again—at the risk of his own life, it can even be regarded as a force of its own, one of his own organic abilities to make up for the fact that he's not as strong as his teammates. Failures, of course he suffers those and of course he worries about those happening as well, but it's not going to stymie him and he's not going to cower and fret (though he does need private moments to cool down and think to himself or read at times before he can spring back). It's not what his mother would have done, it's not proper Meister behavior, and who's going to remain strong for everyone else if fear takes over? It is why he was declared leader of the squad upon the successful completion of team resonance, after all, natural leader tendencies in his soul (yes really).
Exceptions to this include if Crona's involved or if he recently had a particularly big argument with Soul. It takes longer to bounce back from that, even if he ultimately decides to do the right thing (or at least what's most advantageous to his goals in the case of Crona, again, as evident by him allying with Medusa, someone he hates and has caused pain for Crona).
Studying in advance for things helps as well, if one doesn't stop him he'll devote all of his time to reviewing and testing himself on the material until he's completely happy with the results. He has to do well, dammit, it's what he does best. (He might have assorted silly little rituals associated with psyching himself up to "concentrate" and absorb what he's studying.)
The only time where he doesn't express any uncertainty whatsoever (until he's studied for months and months in advance for—okay I'll stop talking about that) is in battle. But that's only because his brain shuts off. Well, obviously, if you're in the heat of battle you're not going to be devoting much time to thought, but Maka can go into outright cockiness when he's fighting, even if the battle doesn't seem to be going in the team's favor. Okay so maybe some part of him is afraid of being killed, but how about you keep pushing on and don't be afraid, be brave! Get knocked down? Get up again, don't lie around and nap all day. It doesn't hurt, I'm not afraid, he will not stop fighting until he dies and—probably because his courage apparently counts as a super special power even though it's just his own stubborn feelings—he's very, very, very hard to kill. He's considered dangerous (and his female counterpart as well) for that very reason, simply refusing to give up.
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branchandroot
Revisions (maybe)
Date: 2013-04-16 03:13 am (UTC)>Much as Maka hates to admit it, he is naturally cheerful and gregarious towards others, and that is something he picked up from being raised by Spirit (y'know, when he used to love his father) even if that's not the image he wants to present (lest people say he's just like his father) as Spirit's son he feels more pressure (even if it's subtle) to act like him though he would prefer to follow the example of his mother. Yes, he worried if he's too friendly to someone, they'd draw some comparison between him and his (very very very well-known) father. But that's not how his mother would want him to be feeling, he knows, and Maka didn't feel necessarily comfortable with being friendly or being distant; he tried to balance the two, but neither was very effective for what he was trying to accomplish in life. Meisters don't work alone after all, they have partners and team members. After the stint with Soul in the first place and Crona later on, he discovered that opening yourself up to another person to offer them friendship does a lot of healing, personally and for target. Later on when his unwillingness to work with Black*Star's…well, overpowering personality was failing to achieve team resonance with his friends, Maka hit a wall of frustration that was solved, yet again, by realizing opening yourself up to ~friendship~ was the way instead of trying to force doing it on your own. Likewise, during the battle against Asura, he was reminded that he can rely on the stronger members of his team as well when he was in a pinch when Black*Star saved him from numerous stab attempts. If you think it's absurd that he and his female counterpart have to be constantly reminded of the power of friendship and how important it is and more powerful it makes you, I swear that's not me, it's Ohkubo's writing. And I haven't even mentioned all the times both versions of Maka had to be reminded of the power of relying on your friends in accordance with canon history.
>Speaking of Maka's emotions, they're incredibly volatile, and that's when he's actively trying to keep them in check (though he doesn't actually try that hard because it's stupid and people are stupid). Once Soul entered the picture that went all out the window, he would openly get into fights with her and criticize her bad habits while she returned the favor (and tugged on his face) all through the awkward beginning stages of their partnership.
When the word of how much Maka hated his father and constantly rejected him got around (remember the divorce was still pretty recent at the beginning of the series, even if the series has arguably gone through a time skip since then) people…avoided bringing up his dad around him. Thank god. They suffered a lot less poisonous glares and non-verbal threats of being hit over the head with books. Instead they (more often meaning the authority figures in Maka's life, whom he always treated with respect regardless of their association with Spirit) would bring up what a promising young Meiser he's becoming, just like his mother, which served to bolster his confidence, though that is always supported by his courage. Courage is nothing special, he'd say, since it's a natural feeling in a human being, just like being afraid is natural, and you learn your courage from being afraid. But it's especially potent in him as it serves to push Maka over the edge in anything, even—again—at the risk of his own life, it can even be regarded as a force of its own, one of his own organic abilities to make up for the fact that he's not as strong as his teammates. Failures, of course he suffers those and of course he worries about those happening as well, but it's not going to stymie him and he's not going to cower and fret (though he does need private moments to cool down and think to himself or read at times before he can spring back). It's not what his mother would have done, it's not proper Meister behavior, and who's going to remain strong for everyone else if fear takes over? It is why he was declared leader of the squad upon the successful completion of team resonance, after all, natural leader tendencies in his soul (yes really).
Exceptions to this include if Crona's involved or if he recently had a particularly big argument with Soul. It takes longer to bounce back from that, even if he ultimately decides to do the right thing (or at least what's most advantageous to his goals in the case of Crona, again, as evident by him allying with Medusa, someone he hates and has caused pain for Crona).
Studying in advance for things helps as well, if one doesn't stop him he'll devote all of his time to reviewing and testing himself on the material until he's completely happy with the results. He has to do well, dammit, it's what he does best. (He might have assorted silly little rituals associated with psyching himself up to "concentrate" and absorb what he's studying.)
The only time where he doesn't express any uncertainty whatsoever (until he's studied for months and months in advance for—okay I'll stop talking about that) is in battle. But that's only because his brain shuts off. Well, obviously, if you're in the heat of battle you're not going to be devoting much time to thought, but Maka can go into outright cockiness when he's fighting, even if the battle doesn't seem to be going in the team's favor. Okay so maybe some part of him is afraid of being killed, but how about you keep pushing on and don't be afraid, be brave! Get knocked down? Get up again, don't lie around and nap all day. It doesn't hurt, I'm not afraid, he will not stop fighting until he dies and—probably because his courage apparently counts as a super special power even though it's just his own stubborn feelings—he's very, very, very hard to kill. He's considered dangerous (and his female counterpart as well) for that very reason, simply refusing to give up.