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custardcrazy · 1 year

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Hi there! Idk if you're taking requests but here's one for now:

Ted Logan x reader

Reader works at a music shop (they bond over a love for music or a specific band). Reader doesnt play the guitar. They ask Ted for some pointers and hes all flustered trying to teach her.

you're so wild (and wonderful)

summary: It's not every day that a cute near-stranger offers to teach you guitar. (gn!reader)

wordcount: 5.2k

A/N: uhhh little to no beta so again. correct me if i terrifically fucked up some grammar thing or spelling and i'll be SO SO grateful

tagged: @kurt-nightcrawler

You'd worked at the mom-and-pop record store long enough to get a good feel for the place.

It wasn't small, but it also wasn't big and shiny like other popular outlets; tucked into a street corner in downtown San Dimas, it wasn't exactly noticeable if you didn't know where to look. Because of that, you mostly encountered the same people -- the lady always wearing cable-knit sweaters, the teenage punk with a pretty gnarly mohawk, and last but not least the middle-aged guy who came in every so often to check if you had any new Beatles records.

(You usually didn't, but it was nice to hear him talk about how his various fishing trips went instead.)

Sometimes, someone new wandered in now and then, drawn in by the faded sign and various music posters plastered around or on the door. Of course, not all stayed; some just found what they were looking for and left, others got overwhelmed and did the same. It didn't really matter, because most of what you did anyway was sit behind the counter and wait.

But it wasn't unpleasant in the slightest. The hours were excellent, the pay was good, and you got a discount if you wanted to buy a record for yourself. All in all, it was totally worth the occasional music snob who ranted to you about the newer generation "ruining music" or whatever. You didn't get paid to listen to that.

Today wasn't too different from any other -- you checked all the deliveries, made sure everything was in order, and double-checked the new arrivals. Then, you found your familiar post by the register, pulling up the familiar battered stool. It did nothing for your poor back, but it was better than standing for sure.

Your coworker, Alice, arrived a couple minutes after you. She was slight in build with more than a few piercings, always sporting an oversized band tee. You were generally friendly to each other, but since she usually killed time by looking through all the various records and other things on sale, or just straight-up vanished into the back; you didn't get many opportunities to speak to her. Which kind of sucked, because she was ridiculously funny. In a sort-of sarcastic, biting way.

An hour went by with nothing out of the ordinary. A couple of teenagers came in, and you watched somewhat amusedly as they attempted to pool their money to buy a Pixies record.

Unfortunately, they had to leave empty-handed.

You were staring at the wall when the tinny chime of the bell announced a new customer.

Abruptly, your attention snapped up, and you got a good look at the new arrivals.

One was around average height, with blonde curls in what looked to be a halfway-mullet and downturned eyes that made him look permanently sleepy. He looked around the store with unconcealed reverence, and it was a little funny -- but you respected it all the same. But it wasn't him that really drew your attention.

It was the other guy he came in with.

Tall, dark-haired, rather easy on the eyes and dare you say handsome, he carried himself with an easy, loping gait that immediately stuck out to you. It wasn't often you found someone attractive quite like this, and even rarer that you had to pause what you were doing to look. (Even though the fact remained that in this case you were doing pretty much nothing, it still counted.)

It took all of your effort to remain seated and wait for him -- well, them, to approach.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long. After maybe a minute or two, the newcomers looked at each other. For whatever reason, you waited with extreme anticipation.

Then they grinned. "Excellent."

You were a bit taken aback at the way they said it in perfect unison, but didn't get the chance to dwell on it; they were heading towards you, and you had to put on your customer-ready smile.

Though it didn't escape your notice that it came easier than usual.

"Hey," you said, hoping you didn't sound strained, "can I help you with anything?"

"Hi," replied Blond Guy. "Yeah, me and my esteemed colleague here would like to know if that two-for-one sign that is looking most ragged still applies." He gestured to the back, where all the various memorabilia and tee shirts were -- stuff that usually wasn't popular amongst customers, and were mostly things that the owners found in the depths of their attic. His "colleague" nodded in agreement, hair flopping around a little.

You mirrored the nod, but with less shoulder movement. "Yeah, it goes for basically anything, since everything over there is under ten bucks." Pausing briefly, you added, "unless you try to get a tee shirt for the price of a guitar pick. Then, no."

That earned another nod from Tall Guy. "OK, that makes sense. Thanks, dude."

He grinned, and his smile was bright enough to rival the sun; you were momentarily blinded, but were able to smile back. "No problem. Just ask me if you need anything else."

When the two boys turned away to inspect the goods, you heaved an internal sigh of relief.

And for once, it wasn't because the customers were being annoying.

You put in the bare minimum in pretending to not be staring; only glancing for a split second at the pages of your battered magazine that served as time-killing material before looking back up. But, seriously, even if you were doing a poor job, neither of the guys seemed to notice. They were pretty engrossed in examining a couple Garfield mugs.

After that, they actually moved on to the records -- lingering near Hendrix but not dwelling long on Herb Albert, and then making their way through the racks from there. It was a personal hobby of yours to guess what a customer would buy from their appearance and demeanor alone. But you'd been too … preoccupied to think of it, and you assumed it'd be considered cheating to take a stab at it now.

Eventually, they returned to your counter, and you looked up at their approach. As if you hadn't been watching intently out of your peripherals.

A single record was set in front of you, and you put down your magazine.

"Just this one?" Peering down at it, you quickly recognized the album cover: More Songs About Buildings and Food, by Talking Heads. "Oh, good choice."

"You really think so?" Asked the taller boy, and it was a little overwhelming with how much he was focused on you. It didn't seem like he was doing it on purpose, though. "I liked '77 a lot, but I'm not sure if David Byrne's delivery'll go well in this album. His voice is pretty distinctive, dude."

"Trust me," you grinned, "it's good. You won't regret giving it a listen."

Flipping the record over to peer briefly at the back, you put it back down. "That'll be $6.95."

It took a bit of frantic searching on their part, but eventually, you slid a couple crumpled bills into the register and gave them back a nickel in change.

For a moment, your hand just hovered awkwardly in the air, the coin in your palm. The boys exchanged glances, as if daring the other to take it. But, finally, the shorter of the two grabbed it, shoving it into the pocket of his jeans.

"What're you gonna use that for? A Tootsie Roll?" Grinning, the dark-haired guy looked proud of his joke.

You didn't miss how he glanced over at you, to check your reaction; completely unphased by how his friend shot him a near-murderous look.

"Shut up, Ted, you wanted it too!"

Unfortunately, you didn't catch the blonde's name, as they were already walking away from you, record in tow. The small bell chimed once more. For a moment, you just looked at the door, the store feeling empty again.

At least you had a name to attach to his face.

… But it was kind of embarrassing, how you didn't even think of asking him. Maybe you wouldn't even see him again.

Sighing, you picked back up your extremely entertaining reading material, attempting to bury your shame with a poorly-written article about a celebrity's affair.

The rest of the day was pretty boring, to say the least. Only a couple more customers came in, but at least you made a decent amount of sales. Alice emerged from the back a couple times to put a couple ancient-looking movie posters on the walls -- you recognized Barbarella and Yellow Submarine.

"Don't get run over," was Alice's way of saying goodbye to you, as you grabbed your stuff and headed home just after six.

You stayed up a bit later than usual, but it didn't matter, since you had to be at the record store at around eleven or so. And it wasn't like you got lunch rushes or anything that you absolutely had to be there to handle.

To be honest, it was barely annoying when that Ted kept popping into your mind; nobody could blame you, after all. It was rare that anybody you encountered at work was someone who legitimately had the power to capture your attention. So you entertained the feeling, right up until you arrived back at work the next day.

Sitting down at the counter with a purpose after doing the usual routine, you rummaged around for another crappy magazine. Now you were going to be professional and level-headed.

And that was what you did for an hour or so. Professional stuff, like helping out a confused-looking older woman find an Elvis record, or shooing away a group of what looked to be ten-to-eleven-year-olds who tried in vain to barter for the junk that was already considerably cheaper than everything else in the store.

Everything was going well.

Until, of course, the bell dinged again, and you just had to look up on instinct.

They were back.

This time, the shorter guy was wearing a backwards cap (bright red) with his blonde curls poking out the front. You appreciated that for a moment, and then, of course, your gaze slid over to him. Worn-out Megadeth shirt and all.

To your mild surprise, he met your gaze almost instantaneously. And then he was jogging -- well, practically bounding over.

"Dude!" He exclaimed, once he was directly in front of you. "You were so right. That album was truly heart-stirring."

It took you a moment to recall which album he was talking about. When you did, though, you didn't hesitate to return his once-again blinding smile. "Yeah, told you so. You should totally listen to more Talking Heads, if you liked the album that much." Unlike last time, Ted's friend was hanging back, but you were curious anyway, and gestured in the blonde's direction. "Did he listen to it, too?"

"Oh, Bill?" Nodding vigorously, Ted's grin didn't fade. "Yeah, he thought it was pretty good. But he didn't like it as much as I did."

"At least he still liked it." You shrugged. "I mean, you were the one who bought it, right?"

Ted glanced off to the side. "Well, I was the one who decided to buy it." He ducked his head a little. "Uh, we pooled our money, though."

"Oh, okay."

There was a bit of an awkward silence, before you spoke up again. "... Is there anything specific you're looking for today?"

"Oh!" At that, Ted perked up. "Yeah, actually. I was gonna ask if there were any other Talking Heads albums here, besides, y'know, the ones I've already listened to." Quickly, he added, "uh, and by that I mean '77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food."

"Sure, I remember." You put down your reading material, before getting off the stool and coming out from behind the counter. "Let's take a look."

He followed behind you as you made your way to the T shelf, and stood next to you as you thumbed through the records.

(If you concentrated just hard enough, you could feel how he was only inches away.)

It didn't take long to find what you were looking for, thankfully. Feeling victorious, you pulled out Remain in Light. And right behind that was Fear of Music. It kind of sucked that Speaking in Tongues wasn't nearby, but if you got lucky, maybe you could find it in the countless decaying cardboard boxes in the back.

"There," you announced, "here. This is good stuff, I think." You showed the album to Ted, and he leaned a little closer in order to get a better look.

"It might be kind of a weird listen for some people, but it's good in my opinion. Some of the songs are kind of similar to hip-hop, and they even use elements of African music -- it's pretty cool." When you offered it to him, he took it; he handled it as if it was a delicate piece of treasure, flipping it over to read over the song titles.

"Rad," he said, after a few moments of deep concentration. "Thanks."

"No problem."

You found yourself smiling along with him. "Need anything else?"

"I think I'm okay for now." His shoulders bobbed when he nodded, you noticed. "I'm gonna look at the other albums over here for a sec, I think."

"Sounds good. I'll be over there if you need me."

After you turned your back to walk back to the counter, you didn't catch how he looked up -- before glancing back at the records. Once you were seated once again, the only thing you saw was how engrossed Ted was in finding what he was after. Or maybe he was just examining the album art; who knew for certain?

It was a little while later when Bill traipsed over to Ted, and they quietly conferred. Their very hushed discussion ended pretty fast, and before you knew it, they were in front of you, and the album you'd shown Ted was placed in front of you.

"Just this one?" You wondered if they were going to keep buying singular records. "Same as yesterday. $6.95, please."

Again, it took a bit for the money to be collected from their pockets, but again, there was a nickel left in change.

You didn't miss how Ted gave Bill a smug look as he reached over to take the coin from you.

Ted's fingertips were callused as your hands brushed, and

chocolate brown eyes met yours, and

"Do you play an instrument?" You blurted, and then winced. "Sorry, that was -- "

" -- Actually, yeah!"

But before you could apologize, Ted cut you off. If he was thrown off-guard by your oddly-placed question, he didn't show it; if anything, he actually looked happy that you'd asked.

"I play guitar!" Proudly, he continued, "so does Bill! Which is great, because we can learn all the tough songs together." The previous brief animosity over the nickel completely disappeared as they exchanged glowing looks. "It is most productive."

"Oh." Briefly, you were still caught between guilt and embarrassment, but you recovered quickly. "Oh! That's neat, actually. Guitar's a cool instrument."

Bill seemed to take your praise in stride, but Ted -- he suddenly avoided eye contact. You carried on, though. "I've kind of always wanted to learn, but I've never really committed." Giggling semi-awkwardly, you shrugged. "Oh well, I guess. Maybe someday, right? Actually buying a guitar might be kinda hard, though. I've fooled around on a couple, but never owned one."

"That is totally understandable," nodded Bill solemnly, "it does take a decent amount of cash and time to be able to learn any instrument."

"Exactly," you agreed. Smiling, you nodded slightly in return. "Have a nice day, guys."

Suddenly, Ted's attention was back on you with an intensity. You looked at him -- did he have a question about the album? -- but no, he was practically radiating nervous energy, almost looking like a deer caught in headlights. You watched as his Adam's apple bobbed; he seemed to be steeling himself.

Before you could ask if he was okay, though --

"I could -- " he cleared his throat, "I could, uh, teach you a bit of guitar. If you wanna."

What?

"What?" You and Bill said, at the same time.

"I mean, I'm not, like, prodigy material, but… " Ted's face was gradually appearing pinker by the second. "I know some stuff, at least."

Ignoring Bill's extremely concerning look directed at his friend, you genuinely considered his offer.

This was actually a prime-time opportunity.

It wasn't every day that cute boys just fell out of the sky (well, walked through the door of the record store) and offered to give you free guitar lessons. Sure, it was true that you barely knew him -- but if you said no, would you even get the chance to get to know him? Probably not. You couldn't tell if he was the type of guy to back off if you said no to something like this; and that was a little scary.

He was shuffling a little, and looked pretty nervous by the time you came to a conclusion.

"Yeah," you affirmed.

"That'd be nice."

If anything, Bill looked more surprised than Ted; who, after a moment or two, seemingly remembered his ability to speak.

"Wait, really?" Ted's face displayed open shock, before fading beautifully into joy.

"Killer, dude."

Turns out the bookmark you'd been using also worked pretty well as a means for Ted to scribble down his (and Bill's, apparently) address. His handwriting was a couple steps up from basically illegible, but considering that you'd noticed his hand shaking, you'd take what you could get. You had a sneaking suspicion that, even on a good day, writing wasn't his strong suit.

The apartment building wasn't too far from your own home, thankfully.

You were only a bit nervous when standing in front of the door. Waiting for either Bill or Ted to answer it.

It turned out to be the latter, who looked partially disheveled as he opened the door for you, stepping aside.

"Sorry. It's a bit of a mess, dude," he said, sounding sheepish, "uh, but trust me, it's usually way worse."

Stepping inside, you looked around -- it wasn't the worst place you'd seen, to be honest, and it had a sense of familiarity radiating from all the stickers stuck on basically every surface, and posters, pictures, and other memorabilia everywhere. Most of the posters were of bands you recognized.

"It's fine," you replied, as he shut the door behind you. "Is Bill home?"

"No, he went out," came Ted's answer. "Dunno where, though. He just gave me a sorta squinty look and left."

"Oh."

An awkward beat, before Ted picked up the thread of conversation; thin as it was.

"C'mon, you can sit down on the couch or wherever. I'll go get the guitars." He smiled at you. "There's probably, like, cereal in the kitchen if you want something." And with that, he practically bolted into the next room.

Doing as he said, you made a place for yourself on the green couch, trying not to knock off any of the pillow and whatnot piled onto the surface. Not that you thought Ted would mind or anything, judging by the semi-cluttered state of the apartment -- but you didn't want to be a rude houseguest, especially during the first time he'd invited you over.

Ted returned pretty quickly, though, carrying two guitars. One was beige, the other black and red.

"You can take Bill's," he said, offering the latter guitar to you. "He won't mind, I think. Unless you break it or something."

"That's not … really comforting." Taking the guitar, you placed it in your lap. "Now I'm nervous."

"Oh. Sorry, dude." He sat down next to you, his own instrument placed on his leg in a position that looked much more comfortable. "I mean, if you did break it, it'd be most calamitous." Seeing your expression, he rushed to add, "but I trust you not to! Since you work in a record store and all."

"That's a good point." Looking at him, you hoped you didn't appear too lost, and you adjusted the way you held your guitar to mimic him.

"So, uh." Ted didn't seem to notice. "You wanna learn a couple basic chords? It's gonna be a bit weird at first, but you'll get used to it pretty quick."

"Alright."

"Stellar." Rolling his shoulders, he grinned. "Here's an A major chord." He demonstrated the finger position, and then strummed his guitar -- it looked easy enough, but still took a couple tries for you to put your hand in the right spot for it to sound right. Eventually, though, you got it, and Ted beamed.

"That's it. Probably the easiest chord. Wanna move on?"

"Sure," you said, "how long will it take to get used to the strings? They're a little tough to keep down."

"Don't press too hard, it'll kill the quality." Ted adjusted himself in his seat, but didn't take his eyes off you. "If you play regularly, you'll get calluses in no time. Don't worry."

"I hope so." You unconsciously mirrored his movement, but weren't able to hold eye contact for as long as him, and dropped your gaze to the guitar in your hands. There were a couple small scratches here and there, which was comforting; because if it could survive a few dings and scrapes, it could survive your amateurish playing.

"I know so, dude." Ted was completely relaxed. " 'Kay, moving on -- C major chord, right? Also pretty easy." He repositioned his fingers, and strummed once more.

Again, after some trial and error, and maybe a little help, you caught on. Ted looked pleased. "See, you got it! You're learning way quicker than I did."

You weren't sure if it was empty praise or not, but judging from how blunt he'd been so far, you doubted it. And it wasn't like you weren't going to take the compliment -- not with how it brought a supremely light feeling into your chest.

Ted had you practice going between the chords a couple times, to get used to switching finger positions. It was awkward, to say the least, but not outright difficult or challenging. You supposed that, with enough practice, it'd get way less fiddly.

"What's next?" You asked, after that. "More chords?"

"You got it!" He'd been demonstrating how to switch positions efficiently, and you tried not to focus on how his fingers easily reached across the fretboard with little to no effort. "Next, we've got the G major chord. Three fingers again."

It was the same process as before, you thought. However, this time, you just couldn't get it right; his fingers and hand were positioned in a way that made it difficult to tell which frets he was pressing. A little frustrated, you tried for the fifth time, and yet. No dice.

Ted didn't seem too bothered, but he sounded empathetic when he spoke up. "Oh. Lemme help, dude."

If you were expecting anything in particular, it probably wouldn't have been him reaching over to move your ring finger onto the correct fret, and then nudge your index finger over a little.

Your heart did a traitorous little skip.

His hands were warm.

"... There." Even he looked bashful as he pulled back. "Uh. That should be good now."

It took you a moment to breathe a "thanks."

Wonderfully, and finally, you got it right. The chord was a little shaky, but you reveled in your triumph.

There was something thick in the air,

but it quickly dissipated as Ted cracked another smile. "See? You got it!"

"Yeah," was all you could muster.

"Let's go between those three for now," he said, mercifully not picking up on your current state of mind. "I think that's a good spot to kinda review, right?" Flicking back his head to get his bangs out of his face, he continued. "I'm not going too fast, right? I'm not, like, a professional music teacher or anything, so…"

At last, you recovered your ability to find words. "No, you're fine. The chords aren't too hard to remember, anyway."

"Right," agreed Ted, "then, can you play the A major one again?"

That was easy enough. You got C major right rather quickly too, much to Ted's delight. And you even remembered how to shift between the two positions in a way that didn't result in uncomfortable finger-twisting. Your fingertips were steadily growing sorer, indented by the strings, but you tried not to focus on it; you'd get used to that later.

However, when you got back to the G major chord… You tried once. Nope. Once more? Couldn't get it.

Third time could be the charm.

No dice. Your guitar emitted a sound similar to that of a severely out-of-tune violin.

"That one trip you up again, dude?" Ted frowned, but it wasn't in a disappointed way at all. More like the sympathy from earlier -- and he sounded a bit guilty, but you didn't know why.

"I swear it's not on purpose," you grumbled, "sorry."

" 'S fine, really." His frown melted into that same easy smile. "I get it. Imagine how long it took for me to get that one right. I didn't have a teacher at all."

Your mind abruptly conjured up an image of Ted, just as frustrated as you were, sitting on the same couch. Struggling to learn the chords you'd gotten in mere minutes. Maybe Bill and him struggled together, when they were both unfamiliar with guitars. Like you were now.

It was kind of a funny image. You were wondering if it was rude to think so; it probably was, right?

But your train of thought was quickly interrupted.

As Ted moved over.

Closer than the last time.

"I have a trick that helped when I first learned the G chord," he began, "uh, you just gotta remember that your middle and ring finger are on the same row, right? And the pointer is just up there." He made a couple hand gestures that didn't really help with the explanation. You understood what he meant, however…

"Where's the pointer finger supposed to go, again?" You asked, a little embarrassed that you'd already forgotten the correct hand position.

Ted opened his mouth to say something. His brow furrowed as he hesitated, before apparently giving up on trying to detail it with words. Gingerly, he placed his own guitar the side.

"Just -- here. Hang on."

Your heart swooped as he reached out again, and --

he was so gentle in how he guided your hand to the correct spot, before carefully nudging your fingertips onto the frets, pressing them ever so slightly onto them.

It took him a moment to speak, and when he did, he hadn't removed his hand from on top of yours yet. He was turned entirely to face you, having been so focused on his task of helping you that he hadn't noticed -- until now.

"Uh," he said, before clearing his throat. "So, see? Middle and ring on the same row, like I said."

His voice was quieter. "And … pointer to the side. There."

You risked a glance up at his face.

It was a brilliant pink.

But he still hadn't moved away.

Every single nerve in your body felt like they were migrating to where your skin met his.

"... There?"

You echoed.

Ted finally seemed to snap back to reality -- pulling his hand back, nearly scrambling backwards on the couch, almost bumping his guitar off it in the process, with how he bounced back on the cushions in his rush to get out of your personal space.

"Yeah!" He blurted as he did so. Face scarlet. Hand flying up to scratch at the back of his neck.

"That -- that should be good."

And now he was avoiding eye contact.

"Okay," you replied eloquently, mentally kicking yourself afterward.

You had to admit, there was a little bit of suspense before you finally strummed your guitar.

And as if from the heavens above, the correct notes finally rang out, just as Ted had demonstrated earlier.

"There!" You declared, and couldn't help your sigh of relief. "I think I'll remember it next time."

It took Ted a second to respond, but when he did, he'd recovered, and was grinning; even if he was still a little pink.

"... See!" He dropped his hand back to his lap to join the other. "The same goes for other tough stuff in music. If you're having trouble, just try to find a pattern." Sagely, he nodded. "Even if it takes you a while to find the pattern, it'll be most gratifying in the end. Makes it way easier to remember stuff."

"Yeah, thanks." You loosened your grip on your guitar. "Actually, that helps a lot. Should we go back to reviewing all the chords again?"

Ted reached back to grab his own instrument, before flicking back his head to get his bangs out of his face.

"Let's do it, dude."

It was about an hour and a half later when your fingertips really started to get sore; even after said hour and a half was interspersed with several breaks, in which your very helpful teacher showed you a couple records from his own collection. And played a couple songs from said couple records.

Most of the songs were from the albums you'd chosen for him.

However, when it came to continuing to practice guitar, half of you wanted to bravely persist, and the other half wanted to stop. Though it was inevitably Ted that made the decision.

"I said it'd take time for you to get calluses, but you shouldn't push yourself too hard," he said, after you winced for maybe the third time. "It hurts, right? And that sucks, that was exactly what it felt like for me during the first, like, few weeks or so." Idly, he pushed back a lock of his hair which had migrated into his face. "I think we could stop for now."

"Yeah, okay." You put down your guitar. "You're right. I should head home to eat, anyway."

"Right," he replied.

There was an awkward beat, before you finally stood up. Ted followed suit.

"Yeah," you repeated, not being able to stop the smile that tugged at the corner of your mouth. "Thanks. Really, it was really sweet of you to offer to teach me a bit of guitar. I only mentioned it in passing, too."

His hand was back on the back of his neck as he walked the short distance with you to the entrance. "It's nothing," he deflected, but his expression said it all. "I'm just glad that I didn't turn out to be a horrific teacher, or something."

"No, you were fine!" Giving him another 'thanks' as he opened the door for you, you stepped out of the apartment. "I'm just glad that I wasn't a horrific student."

Turning to face him, you inclined your head, speaking before he could object.

"Bye. And thanks -- "

"-- you wanna do this again?"

It seemed even he was surprised at the question, taking into account how his face reddened. Once again. "Uh," he added, "I mean, it was fun. To hang out and teach you a couple chords. It'd be nice to hang out again." His tone was wavering. Stilted, almost. "Yeah."

It was cute.

"Sure," you answered without missing a beat. "Give me your number and I'll call when I get home."

His answering grin was powerful enough to power a thousand solar panels.

You probably broke a speed limit heading home, to say the least.

#ted logan x reader #ted logan imagine #ted logan imagines #keanu reeves x reader #keanu reeves x you #ted logan x you #bill and ted imagine

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study-core-101 · 2 months

Text

Popular Study Methods I dont like

(By Jay)

A list of study techniques that dont work for me at all. But study methods can work amazing for one person and then just complicate studying more for another. If they work for you, awesome, i'm happy about that. These are my personal experience with them, a lot of people wont relate and thats fine, people are different. But if you relate why these common/popular methods dont work for me, know you arent the only one and that there are more options. People might tell you "this method is amazing, you should do this" and there for you is shit.

Memorazing

Avoid this. When you memorize you dont learn. You cannot conect concepts because you dont understand. One thing is memorazing formulas, which is nessesary, but memorazing everything doesnt work. Understandment is way better. Yes, we need to remember and storage the information in our memory, but memorazing is different. Knowing the theory ord by word is shit if you cannot explain it in different words, conect it wit other concepts or put in practise.

Flashcards

Yep, studyblr favourite study method. Bear with me.

For me, it is a really passive way. When i make the Q&As of the flashcards, i remember the answers. I dont think. I associate the words. And then, when the test has the questions phrased different, my mind goes blank. It seem liked i learned because i remember but i wasnt actually learning.

Now you are probably thinking "use it for vocabulary". That doesnt help me either. Maybe it helps for knowing the meaning in a reading, but writing? I cant remember the spelling. For learning to spell a word i need to write it down. Use it in a sentence. Reading it over and over doesnt do anything.

All-nighters

Oh god, there is nothing worse than an all-nighter. One all-nighter will ruin your sleep schedule for weeks and tired=learn less. Plus, too much all-nighters lead to burn out.

With better time management, all-nighters wouldnt probably exist, or at least, be reduced by a lot

Also, as someone with chronic migraines, an all-nighter'd only give me a week straight with only terrible pain and i prefer failing a subject than that (i'd had to learn the hard way that lesson. always prioritaze your health)

Pomodoro

It's a little bit hypocrital of me to put it here, as I usually reccomend it to others. But personally? It just de-motivaties and stresses me. (disclaimer: it is a good technique, thats why i recomend it even if it doesnt work for me).

I'll explain why. The only way i can do a lot of productive stuff together (or just a long assignment) is to "get in the mood" or have like a "streak". I usually have to power through the first 5-10 minutes of studying and then i get super motivated and do a lot until my brain asks for a break. When the timer rings, it breaks it and i have to repeat the rutine again. It wouldnt be so bad if it wasnt that i work 3 or 4 times faster when i motivated than when i am powering through.

Also, having the self-impose deadline of a pomodoro (i know it isnt technically a deadline, but for some unknown reason, my brain processes it as one) makes me nervous and gives me anxiety. Just knowing the timer is going to go off anytime un-focus me. It's unnesesary stress.

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luci-is-a-bitch-x3x · 8 months

Text

Obey Me! Leviathan, Satan & Asmo with a Goth MC! : basically my thoughts on what the brothers reactions would be, how they would handle having a goth partner, ext.

━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━━☆*:☆*:･♡━

Welcome back! (If you came from the other part lol) basically the same concept as before, so i hope you enjoy! Sorry if the characters are not as you think they would be. & I apologize in advance for poor jokes, bad grammar and terrible spelling. Nonetheless I hope it entertains you! ‹𝟹

━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━

Goth MC! who does the make up, the white foundation the "crazy" eyeliner, the black/grey or dark color eyeshadow and blush. Classic black or red lipstick with matching nail polish on the Mc's fingers. The saggy looking hair that matches the make up, oh so well. Goth MC! Who has the unkept look, but at second glance you can tell their well kept. At least to some extent. The Mc has raggy, ripped looking outfit but upon closer inspection its clear the outfit is perfectly kept up with. Goth MC! Who has an over extent looking outfit, looking like rags on rags, and the Mc has a dead looking apperance appearing to have risen from the grave. Almost the perfect example of a goth baddie. How will the brothers react?

Leviathan

When Goth Mc shows up Levi immediately thinks they look like goth characters from his animes! Like the anime "I was a dog and then I licked a puddle, which transformed me into a famous Goth idol!" Levi's cheeks flushs as he stares at the Mc in awe. He clearly thinks that Goth MC is just like the goth characters in his animes. "All the Goth characters in animes are so badass!! I bet Mc is such a badass!" Levi almost gets a nose bleed but eventually skitters off to his room.

Levi is constantly thinking of Goth Mc, he has to distract himself with games and upcoming anime releases. Excuses. He finds himself unconsciously watching animes with characters that remind him of this Mc.

Levi tells Henry (the goldfish) all about Goth Mc. Henry is never not hearing about the Mc. The way their smile brightened the room even with the dark attire the MC was wearing.

Dating Levi would be fun and domestic. Levi likes horror games, he watches horror movies and animes. So if you're a goth who loves horror he's you're man. You guys can cuddle up and game or snack and watch something scary.

I feel like Levi would get to see a more casual goth side of the Mc. I mean why would you be gaming and chilling so much in the fancy goth attire? It takes a lot of effort and energy. Levi would inevitably see the more casual goth side. Maybe just a little eyeliner or something, casual still dark attire outfit, even without being all dolled up the Mc radiats goth energy. Or thats what Levi thinks. Levi thinks it's so cool that Mc dresses casual with him! The Mc obviously feels safe enough to not be all dolled up! They know he worships them no matter what they look like. They're the perfect 3D partner for him. His player 2, His Henry.

Now outfit wise, Levi would defiantly make this Mc wear some goth anime cosplays. He makes his cosplays himself the cosplays always fit perfectly. Of course he has to take pictures of Mc in their cosplays! But thats about it outfit wise, he keeps up with some trends but ultimately he doesnt go out so he doesn't feel the need to dress to impress. You should just stay in his room with him and his other Henry! (The goldfish lol)

Levi is quick to know everything about goth as soon as he met the Mc. If he didn't already know about goth lol. Levi will buy popular goth items off Akuzon and give them to the Mc. He'll have a huge blush and will be talking through his hand. And as an excuse he'll say he got it as a extra item. Instead of admitting he got it for them as a gift.

Satan

Goth Mc's arrival in The Devildom altered Satan's life. A bit dramatic dude. Satan sees the appeal of the aesthetic, even thinks its a bit of an artistic outlit. He immediately compares Mc to a black cat. Stating all the similarities in his head.

Just like with cats Satan is drawn to Goth Mc. Just something about their presence and apperance makes Satan happy and calm. One look at Mc and suddenly hes not as angry as before. He doesn't need to destroy the room like he previously thought he did.

Dating Satan is like a love story, for example, Satan took a really aesthetically pleasing photo of Goth Mc with a black cat, it's been his D.D.D's wallpaper ever since.

Satan enjoys reading mystery/crime books, when Goth Mc suggests books with horror or grim themes Satan was open to reading them! He enjoyed reading any books usually, and reading with Mc made the book even better! Chatting with Mc about the books after reading them made him feel content.

Satan is by no means out of date in style, but i don't think hes a fashion expert. He knows what he needs to so he can look presentable enough. Satan enjoys saving money so he'd much prefer going to cheaper shops, but he will get this Mc expenisve goth attire for special occasions.

Satan enjoys the Goth aesthetic and vibe, so he caught on quickly. He read a lot of books & asked a lot of questions. Satan will buy books that are on the darker side, just to read it with you. If Satan gets anything extra thats black cat themed, it immediately goes to Goth MC. As- "Your apperance is captivating, just because you're unique people frown upon and fear you, but I my dear, see past the dark complection, there's a soft creature waiting to be loved inside of you." -this is something he would write for a black cat, and then say to Mc, saying to Mc "well you remind me of a black cat and it fit you pretty well, did it not?" Satan would also pick up any cheap goth stuff he saw, no matter how random it may be for him to randomly giving the items to Mc unprompted, he gets it anyways, just wanting MC to know he was thinking of them. And that although he's cheap, he still loves them

You cant tell me Satan wouldn't fit perfectly with a goth partner. Man's would look perfect with a Goth partner. Just sounds so adorable. Perfect partner for him change my mind.

Asmo

When Asmo first sees Goth Mc he defiently squealed out loud. Man's lost his shit. "Mc is just so cute!!~" defiently took immediate inspiration from Goth Mc. Whether that inspired his next clothes design or just a new outfit look for himself is up to you.

Asmo just wants to eat Goth Mc up! (Metaphorically) Asmo adores Goth Mc's look. I feel like Lucifer had to stop Asmo from scooping Goth Mc into his arms from the second he sees Goth Mc. Asmo wants all the details. "Tell me what products you use Mc!! What clothes are you wearing?! How long does it take for you to get ready?!? You appreciate the art of make up as much as I do!!!" Asmo is over the moon. He loves having Goth Mc around. Mc wants to try a new goth look? Leave it to Asmo! Mc will let Asmo paint their nails or do their make up, as long as it matches their goth aesthetic? Asmo loves aesthetics! He'd never ruin Mc's aesthetic!

However Asmo would encourage Goth Mc to stretch their horizions. "Why not try the pink goth look Mc?? Oh, hun. You'll look gorgeous! Pink suits everyone!" Mc really doesnt want to try pink? That's okay! Asmo knows all the fashion choices out there! He knows all kind of Goth styles Mc can try out! Ultimately Asmo enjoys how Mc looks, even if he seems to encourage Mc to try other goth styles, he just wants Mc to be happy! Mc looks good in anything in his mind!

Dating Asmo is almost like being famous. Asmo wants to take all the pictures with Goth Mc to post to Devilgram. Asmo will proudly post Mc on his Devilgram. Someone comments on Mc's style? Aw, now that hater doesn't have a social life at all! "No silly! I didn't do anything!" He totally ruined their life over a "not my type of look" comment lol. Asmo likes to do matching outfits with Goth Mc, at least to some extent. "Lets wear the same accessories!! Ooo~ that lipstick looks nice Mc! Let me try it!" It may be small things like those, or Asmo may go with a full matching outfit. You never know with him. Mans is full of surprises.

Asmo will only do some things with Goth Mc, if its not apperance based, making outfits, doing make up, ect, Asmo isn't very interested. He likes to stay clean and not mess up his freshly done apperance! But! (In the game it says it somewhere) Asmo will occasionally not very often just when he feels like it watch horror movies with Mc, but the movies have to be psychological horror. Asmo doesn't like the gore ones. (Thats what it said in game at least)

Asmo knows all the best places to shop styles. While hes out shopping he'll definitely pick Mc up some goth stuff. If he sees it and thinks of Mc he obviously has to get it for them! Asmo is great with Goth gifts. He gets aesthetics better than any of his brothers. So every gift Mc receives from Asmo is one their guaranteed to love. It fits their aesthetic perfectly!

━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━

Thats all for now babes!!! This is not proofread! I hope you enjoyed nonetheless! Let me know any thoughts or add ons you have in the comments of reblogs! The twins will be next, and then ill do the side characters. So stay tuned and stay healthy doves! ‹𝟹

━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━━☆*:❀♡✧━

⟡˙⋆Masterlist⋆˙⟡

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ganondoodle · 1 month

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i am so extremely confused on how you can acknowledge belly dancing not needing to be sexual yet. still insist that nintendo is sexualizing young gerudo with the attire. the makeup, heels and how impractical it is to wear the shit they wear in the desert i understand. im not defending those design mistakes. but??? jfc.

oh. so, assuming you are the same anon as before, you WERE asking in bad faith then, or are intentionally missunderstanding what im saying, got it, and now you are trying to twist my words around to fit your little narrative about me being the problem and not mega corporation uwu nintendo with a history of racism (to which this issue is extremely attached to)

so, since you apparently didnt understand what i said, and didnt watch the video i attached either, bc that goes into detail of everything as well, im gonna spell it out once more, and i will even EMPHASIZE words like THIS, so its easier to understand, just for you <3

i did NOT say that the 'belly dance' outfit doesnt NEED to be sexual, i SAID it is/was not sexual IN ITS ORIGIN, BUT was TURNED INTO what boils down to nothing else but a sexy strippers outfit by western people and has been used as NOTHING BUT sexual for decades in the vast majority of media of all kind-

which MEANS, that although in ORIGIN it might not have been sexual, the unfortunate PROBLEM is that through its extreme popularization as such you now have to assume IT IS sexual, bc that is pretty much ALWAYS the intent, people dont even know it as anything but a sexual thing

and before you can even say the "well maybe they didnt intent it a such" blah blah, this is NOT SOLELY about the outfit itself being the only problem here, its the whole package, even if they DID have good intentions or did it subconsciously (which, mind you, should also tell you just how much this kind of picture of middle eastern people has been spread, how common it is to see them like this that its what most people actually think they are like) it nevertheless sends a certain message, and again, ITS THE WHOLE FUCKING PACKAGE, everything, from outfit, to design elements, to dialog, to lore, to even camera angles, you cannot view it as a seperate thing bc it is, inherently, not able to be seperated from everything, its as if you took an incredibly racist caricature, zoomed in and said "LOOK they used a realistic kind of skin tone, its totally not racist!!"

you also called these design decisions "mistakes", but they are not, in fact mistakes, a mistake is when you notice after posting a drawing that you forgot to color in a strand of hair, however, ALL of these design and writing decisions are deliberate, they had to sit down, in a giant team of people, to come up with it, then proceed to design and write it, approve it, make it, and ship it, and saw no problem with it, which is a problem

now, im not saying nintendo personally is telling you "its ok to fuck kids", but things have meanings, and if you are making something, ESPECIALLY using something that isnt of your own culture, you should think about things, and what meanings a thing can have attached to, they are a giant corporation, not a single, very uninformed at best- or very racist at worst, human being, they have the means to do research, but they did not do it or think its fine, maybe even good, which deserves to be called out

i am a big, and longtime, zelda fan, but beign a fan of something doesnt mean you cannot criticise it, or aknowledge that its in many ways flawed, part of being a fan is being able to recognize things that are bad and demand better

if you send me another ask spouting bullshit or purposefully missunderstanding what im saying im gonna punt you into the filthy barrel of blocked porn bots, bc i dont have anon messages enabled to receive shit like this but to allow people who might be too shy to send normal asks to talk to me.

jfc.

#ganondoodles answers #and guess what if i block an anon i cant ever unblock them #but honestly i dont think i want people like that to interact with me anyway #i believe its never to late to learn and change your ways to become better #but it is not my job to try and teach someone media literacy that seems to be unwilling to learn anyway #so- enough of that #and if you send me another ask like this im gonna block you- in case that wasnt clear enough

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thechaoticreader · 3 months

Text

10 More Booktok Books I Refuse To Read

Why am I doing this again? Well, I'm a bitch and feel like I've been rating books very highly lately so I need an outlet for the hater energy. Trying to keep the blog chaotic neutral!

*Disclaimer: If you like any of these books, slay! I'm happy for you! These are just my own consumer choices, and imo negative book reviews are just as helpful as positive ones!*

1. Twisted Love (& Series)

will HATE the love intrest

heard its a little incelly

too straight for my gay ass

as an Anna, I cannot condone this spelling so out of principle I will not read her books <3

2. The Fine Print (& Series)

Crusty billionaires aren't sexy

I repeat its too straight for my gay ass

I was born on December 5th which is the same day Walt Disney died and idk I just feel weird about it

eat the rich

I've had another one of Lauren Ashers books on my TBR for like a year and I keep putting off reading it (even tho its about F1 and Im obsessed with F1) so theres no hope of me reading and enjoying one about something I dont care about

3. A Little Life

I have enough mental illness without reading this book

I have enough queer trauma without reading this book

I'm not okay enough to read this book

Seriously though, this would be way too triggering for me and im chosing to prioritize my mental health over reading popular and critically acclaimed works (you all should too <3)

4. One Of Us Is Lying

I don't typically like Y/A thrillers

generally doesnt intrest me -> im getting tired of thrillers and have started leaning towards straight up horror

I HATE the cover

5. Inheritance Games

I've been burnt out of this genre/type of book since the 2000s-2010s dystopian craze

my housemate hated it and I trust his opinion

6. Lightlark

...do I really need to say anything

7. House In The Cerulean Sea

white author profiting off of indigenous trauma

mishandling of indigenous genocide (i.e the 60's scoop)

paints the residential school system as "not that bad"

I know the above books haven't been that serious but this one absolutely is and I will link information and resources in the comments. I put this one so low because I know if it was first people would just skip this whole post and potentially not look into the history of why this book is problematic.

8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

theres too much hype and i don't want to be dissapointed

9. The Love Hypothesis

galaxy leggings

I wont be able to overlook the cringy millenial humor

it will transport me back to 2016 (in a bad way...see above)

im too gay for that (I can be convinced to read bride tho👀)

10. From Blood and Ash

I have no good reasons tbh

the cover triggers my fight or flight

im not a series girlie (gender neutral) -> duologies are on thin ice

#some of these arent serious #idk which ones #you tell me #bookblr #book blog #reading #booktok #bookish #books and reading #goodreads #anti booktok #anti book club #im a hater #too gay for this #books i wont read #anti haul #i survived the dystopian craze #house in the cerulean sea controversy

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imlivinginyourtrashcan · 5 months

Note

Give me your Blyndeff sister headcanons please.

You got it, Boss!

MOLLY BLYNDEFF:

Starting off, I think shes autistic. Look, i know this is low hanging fruit, but i mean... come on...

I have a list of all the nervous tics she has, which include:

Chewing on her hoodie strings

Clicking a pen, mechanical pencil, figit cube

Cracking her body, mostly her hands, fingers and wrists

Chewing her inner cheek

Biting herself

Shaking anything jingly

Nervous hand flappies

Pacing

I also have a list of stims that i kinda projected:

Hand flaps are a big one

Same with fist shaking

Patting her thighs too

She also makes small popping noises

Ok back to ACTUAL headcannons:

Doesnt do well at amusement parks, but is cool about the scary halloweeny stuff

Quiet kid in school on the days she goes

Vocalizes what she does (aka making sounds as she does stuff) (akaaka her walking and she goes "eh eh eh eh")

I feel like she indulges in horror games, thinks the cutesy stuff is boring

Did not realize she was autistic until Trixie said "Thats neat Molly! By the way, did you ever get diagnosed for autism?" After she went on a whole rant about bear facts.

Speaking of facts, hyperfixation/special interest list:

Bears

Pokémon

Lethal company

Any horror game you give her, really

Horror movies

History (this is me protecting)

Actual Headcannons:

Textures are iffy for her

Shes touch seeking but will freak out if she feels or tastes a weird texture like with fleeces or fabrics

Naven triedd to help her with this, but it didn't work out and she spat out the food while apologizing

Likes Rasin Brain, its the only cereal thats not sweet

Drinks black coffee and tea

I feel like she owns a green Nokia with a bear keychain

Music taste is probably those nice music box covers or really quiet piano with rain ambiance.

LORELAI BLYNDEFF:

Shes autistic too, but not at the same spectrum level as Molly

Abandonment Issues

If shes stressed she'll stim while talking out loud to herself

Had HORRIBLE meltdowns when she was younger, she stopped around the time Molly was born since her parents said she had to set an example

Sweet tooth, favorite flavor is Birthday Cake

I can sense she has a Dnd special intrest, most definetly has played Baldurs Gate 3 at some point

Warrior Cats kid

Bedazzles everything she owns

Horrible cook. Dont let her touch an oven

Her and Molly used to infodump together before they started hating eachother

Def a bedazzled flip phone girlie

Idk why but I feel like shes a Chai drinker, no explination I just feel it.

Also really likes Halloweeny stuff

She struggles more with school work than Molly (Proof, her spelling in PoP) but she doesnt want to ask for help cuz she feels stupid about it so she just does it wrong

Full Hyperfixation/Special Intrest List:

Fantasy

Dungeons and Dragons/TTRPGS

Baldurs Gate 3

Rabbits/Bunnies/Etc

Harry Potter (Fuck JKR)

Warrior Cats

Wings of Fire

Percy Jackson

Actual Headcannons:

I feel like shes an Art Kid

Specializes in Pottery and Doodles

Also has taken up plushie making! Without an Epithet, I may add

She doesnt have an issue with texture most of the time; but if she feels any slime or coldness on her hands she'll flip.

She likes the popular music; but secretly loves fantasy game soundtracks and vocaloid. DWEEB!!!! (Me too i get it Lori)

Storing money to go to a Renaissance Faire

She sometimes uses her dream bubbles for Dnd campaigns with the friends she has! Or she would if she had any

I feel like she sits alone at lunch :(

Loves Boba! Tried getting Molly to taste it but she spat out a Pearl

Theater kid. Gut feeling.

Thats all from me, anon! Enjoy!!

#epithet erased #epithet erased fanart #epithet oc #epithet erased percy #epithet erased mera #epithet erased molly #epithet spoilers #prison of plastic au #prison of plastic spoilers #epithet erased prison of plastic #prison of plastic #epithet erased lorelai #lorelai blyndeff

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acidichcl · 28 days

Note

*waves at you like a maniac* hihi hello

I have some questions for your Against all odds au/interation(whichever you consider it :33)

1. Which one of the turtles is your favorite/favorite design you made. Or any of the human characters

2. Who do you relate to/project onto the most

3. Do they have their own music they like and if so what. Like artist or genre(idk how to spell it sorry)

3. If they celebrate different holidays do they have a favorite

You don't have to answer all I just like giving more then one lol

Haiiii :3 And im here to answer them alll!!!

1. I love all the turtles 😔 Their designs are all balanced so theyre all the same to me, butttt i do tend to draw leo alot. Not bc of design or anything, but bc the plot i have figured out most is leo's 😭 April's def a fave tho lol shes cute

2. April, cuz shes bad at friendships despite her being popular. Except im not popular like that LMFAO people do aknowledge my existence, Im just bad at friendships. She is pretty outgoing already but most of the time shes just tired. Sometimes she wants to isolate herself and not interact with people. She just wants to exist, doing whatever. She knows she has to interact with people bc thats how things are. If she doesnt show that she’s outgoing, people will isolate her. Sure she wants to have her own time, but she doesnt exactly wanna be forgotten. She likes the turtles more bc other than the fact theyre interesting, theyre just there. When things happen, theyre there with her. Theyre existing together and nothing is forced

3. maybee;

Donnie: EDM or synth-pop

Leo: classical

Raph: R&B

Mikey: Hip-hop

April: indie pop. Mona lisa by mxmtoon is her favourite

4. Is halloween considered a holiday? If it is, probably halloween for obv reasons. Candy, fun, and not having to feel left out with the fact theyre not human

Anywayz thanks for asking!! hope that all makes sense (ᐢᗜᐢ)

#ask #tmnt against all odds #teenage mutant ninja turtles #april o'neil #tmnt leo #tmnt raph #tmnt mikey #tmnt donnie #tmnt irma #at the back lol #doodles #my art

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laincelebi · 1 year

Text

Let me talk about my favorite characters from p3

I like how basically since the start of the game Makoto has some flirty options when talking to Yukari, which she dismisses lol.

I like to think he had a crush on her since the start that slowly evolves to something more. After all he hugs her without any player prompt during yakushima trip. I like to think that it means it was on impulse. And that his hug is awkward cause is definitely not used to do that.

her social link also feels like it progresses so natural, its like feels like neither of them needs to say they are dating and yukari seems to only say she loves makoto at her social link final rank. i just find cute how they dont seem to have to spell out, they just know they are together, it just comes naturally for them.

Meanwhile it's clear yukari has issues connecting to people. She is popular at school but still keep a distance from everyone, especially boys.

That is both a barrier and a mask. A mask cause she will do things like lie about being bad at cooking and cooking hidden from others. And not talk about her family, she doesn't others to know about her situation, ask her questions or pity her. She wants to fit in but at the same time she cant connect to them, she is jealous of others cause they have something she lost a long time ago and yet constantly complain about it. Kinda why even though she clearly has friends i doubt any of them are very close or know her too well. Especially since she seemed very surprised when kotone first says they are friends, saying "friend? oh you are talking about me" and doesnt know how to answer.

Before Makoto or Kotone appear probably the only people she knew that had similar situations was Junpei and Mitsuru, and we know how rocky her relationship with Mitsuru is at first. I honesty don't think either Mitsuru or Akihiko tried to connect with her at first. Junpei is probably the closest thing she had to a close friend and yet she still had her barriers up.

It's also a barrier cause she doesn't want people to know all the problems she has. She also seems insecure about those as she comments in her social link with Makoto that he probably regrets being with a girl with so many problems. And then we have her distancing herself from boys, definitely due to her mother situation. Only after yakushima she gives a chance to actually approach Makoto even though he was the first person she actually felt she could connect with takes her a long time to open up with him.

This is very different with Kotone, as they get closer very fast cause Kotone is a girl, so yukari doesn't put distance from her. In a way they are very similar both keeping masks of their own. the difference being yukari drops hers fast when she opens up with either makoto or kotone, she doesnt need to hide her family story and past trauma, she feels like she can tell them.

Menwhile its clear kotone has a mask on most of the time, her cheerfulness is basically that, while Makoto became apathetic to others at first having issues connecting to people, kotone created a mask to hide her true feelings, honestly i think kotone is as depressed as makoto, she just doesnt show.

Honestly i interpret yukari as being bi due to her interaction with Kotone ( and atlus are cowards for not making Kotone hug yukari). i find incredibly telling how she says she wont look for a boyfriend cause she wants to spend more time with kotone, and that no one catches her eye.

#persona #persona 3 #i like yukari a normal amount #shuyuka #yukari takeba #makoto yuki #kotone shiomi

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irrealisms · 1 year

Note

1 for the ask game, for every fandom in your tumblr about...!

the character everyone gets wrong

tolkien: tough one. honestly, i feel like due to the nature of the fandom most people have defensible readings of most characters, even if they're not my own? to the extent tht people get characters wrong it's mostly by not thinking abt them very much! I'm inclined to pick Galadriel, though, bc she's also in LotR and so you get LotR fans thinking they can speak to first or second age galadriel, and then u get silm fans overcorrecting and ignoring third age galadriel entirely, and ofc there's the various Sexist Archetypes she gets shoved into by virtue of Being A Woman. actually a Lot of the women in tolkien are characters ppl get wrong a lot. elwing! míriel! indis! idril! lúthien! niënor! haleth! And So On Forever And Ever. this is again mostly due to Simply Not Thinking About Them Very Much tho

wktd: tbh the fandom gets the wktd girls pretty solidly. no real notes here. benefits from being a small fandom for a game with Three characters all of whose issues are pretty spelled out for you & constitute the central plot.

glowfic: im gonna be honest i do not feel confident to speak for other ppl's characters and state what ppl get right/wrong..! like idk man maybe im the one getting them wrong. ppl mostly dont like... write fic or make headcanons for each others glowfic in a way where the author isnt involved in having opinions about it? so if someone was mischaracterizing a glowfic character idk how i would know rly

hannibal: all of them @_@ no one understands this show like i do and it's a perpetual frustration... im gonna throw out abigail as my answer tho bc she sooooo often gets reduced to like, part of the murder family, which ignores soooooo much of her storyline and how much she did not (uncomplicatedly) want that. her relationship with will is So So Complicated but ultimately she likes freddie more than she likes will in some ways! and at least back when i was in the fandom ... ppl dont get that or just treat it as like, a flaw or misunderstanding to be corrected.

tma: ooooo this is a tough one. honestly the fandom was big enough that it's hard for me to say No One in the fandom got characters & in a lot of cases there was the question of like, does the fandom not understand X or do i just not seek out very many fics abt X... e.g. i havent read any tma fic that got georgie very well but also i havent read any georgie-centric tma fic! kind of a skill issue on My part rly!

mcelroy + polygon content: oh this is a trip down memory lane. everyone writes taako very few people write taako well. i'm not a taako fan and instead had Cares About Less Popular Characters disease but i did feel for taako enjoyers for this. i didnt really read polygon rpf so i can't speak to that side of things.

poetry and short stories: i don't think there are rly characters Everyone In The Fandom gets wrong for this tbh. like thats just not rly a coherent thing

the untamed/mdzs: SONG LAN...... i am not even a big song lan fan im a xuexiao stan first and foremost. but good lord. man has like 2 character traits and the ppl writing fic for him cant even remember those! also lwj but with the disclaimer that i have a very specific read of novel!lwj that just doesnt rly apply to untamed!lwj. which most people are writing for. i guess this is also true of song lan but i have more of a sense of "if you care a lot about song lan you should do your due diligence in hunting for scraps of characterization" whereas caring about untamed!lwj and not reading the book is like. yeah okay fair enough. to me.

tgcf: ooooh. hard one. my immediate instinct is mu qing bc i follow the tag and have to read way too much mu qing slander but i have in fact read good mu qing fic.... might stand by that anyway tho. the tgcf tag is like 50% mu qing slander by volume and it makes me sad. mu qing get behind me bby i'll protect u ;-;

dream SMP: hahaha. ha. what character DOESN'T dsmp fandom get wrong. it gets tommy wrong it gets techno wrong it gets phil wrong it gets puffy and niki and hannah wrong it gets dream wrong it gets purpled wrong it gets quackity wrong it gets sam wrong it gets schlatt wrong it gets karl wrong it gets george wrong it gets wilbur wrong it gets LITERALLY EVERYONE wrong. constantly. the only times it doesn't get someone wrong is when it's forgotten that they exist at all (this is about the eggpire but it's also about eryn and fundy and jack manifold and i'm sure many many others i'm not currently remembering). im giving the prize for Getting It Wrong to phil, though. i don't even LIKE phil. but everyone who writes him gets him wrong. they are just writing Generic Bad Dad or Generic Good Dad. he's got traits! i promise!

ok actually since this one's my current special interest i'll go a bit more in depth. tommy's rude & annoying & a fighter, he very very rarely has the sort of fawn response ppl write. techno is funny but he's got emotions and he is usually acting based on those emotions; if you're writing him in s1 he's less based than you think and if you're writing him in s3 he's more based than you think. phil has traits other than being a dad and also if you can't accurately identify which characters he is and is not a dad to then you don't get to write him. puffy, niki, and hannah all have traits other than being women; no, "therapist", "girlboss", and "mom friend" don't count. purpled is not particularly a Manipulated Minor TM, he's an amoral mercenary, he's kinda fucked up by isolation but he's more like punz than he is like tommy or tubbo. none of quackity, sam, and dream are one-dimensional characters whose only trait is Sadistic Abuser but also if you write them without acknowledging that they're sadistic abusers (with the exception of writing about early dsmp/before The Horrors) then you're doing it wrong. same goes for schlatt but with the addition of "he should not under literally any circumstances talk like he's got a tumblr". karl's more of a bitch than that. so's george. wilbur is more of an asshole and less of a creep than that. i could go on literally forever the dsmp fandom gets every single character wrong & it is my burden to be right about all of them u_u

(choose violence ask game)

#therapists dni #any british ants in the chat?

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daedalusdavinci · 6 months

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spell homestuck

GOD. THIS IS SO MUCH LONGER THAN TWO FACE. i typed too much and theres too many qs so under the cut it goes

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or....... i guess comics, these days, but i HATE READING COMICS they juST HAVE MORE COMPELLING FANDOMS. book fandoms are PUNY nad everyone is STUPID. youd think actual literary fandoms would have reading comprehension and understanding of literary critique but no!!!!!!!!!!!!! its literally my eternal fuckign struggle. somehow comic fandoms hit the perfect medium between compelling, readable content and the enthusiasm of cartoon fans without the childishness of cartoon fans

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

this isnt really a thing i do. the only time i associate characters w songs is my own ocs. barbies theme is miltons tower from the what remains of edith finch soundtrack!

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

i have also never really been one to project myself into stories. its just not how i consume media. i think sollux and rose already closely resemble the kinds of friends i make, so maybe them?

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

(freddy fazbear vc) vanessa.... ive done things, im not proud of.

i dont even know if i want to answer this question bc its so fucking humiliating LKJSNDLFSDNFSDF the truth is yes. i am solely responsible for. a lot. particularly in the pjo fandom. i created several crackships ground up all on my own way back in 2014 and developed a following for them and i. dont wantto tell you what those ships were. LSKJDFNSLDJNSDFSDDF ive also pioneered many ship tags for other fandoms and i ship a lot of rarepairs and stuff but i dont think im RESPONSIBLE for them?? in that some ppl already were into them/talking abotu them or tht theyre still not popular (augh. to the ones that became popular) but i AM liTERALLY responsible for some crack shit in the pjo fandom and its. it haunts me sometimes. i dont want to talk about it. IF YOU REMEMBER WHAT I DID NO YOU DONT

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

this is so vague. my headcanons are shifting and nebulous and aus are my constant companion in everything, but uhhhhhhghhusjkdjnsdg i think. roxy writes the same way dave draws comics. its extremely memey and meta and self aware and largely just for the personal lolz, and were all doing her a disservice by pretending her writing looks like roses, when in reality dirk is probably the one whod make comics the way rose makes books (which is probably why he doesnt make comics). its more of that thing where roxy and dave are the same and rose and dirk are the same ykwim. well YOU dont corvus but im sure someone else does

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

jason takes after bruce in terms of like. adopting entirely too many kids. he broods

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

harvey is a heartwrenching character when written well, with a complicated view of morality, heartbreaking ties to our main hero, and a lot of internal conflict. something about such a hopeful character deadset on making a different in the system becoming a victim of it, and the potential he has as a vehicle for critiquing the law.

percy is my favorite character from pjo bc it was the very first time in my life i ever read a book and saw myself in it. hes aggressive, impulsive, and rebellious, he fidgets and has a hard time standing still, he acts on emotion without always thinking it through, he gets in trouble in school and hands his mom a murder weapon to kill his stepdad, hes just... hes a lot of the things ive always gotten in trouble for, things i couldnt help being, and hes a hero. he means everything to me.

vriska, i will maintain until the day i die, is one of the best homestuck characters- maybe just characters?- ever written. shes dramatic, shes impulsive, shes manipulative and mean and creative, and shes just so messy about it. shes a mean girl in a way that feels real, where her trauma impacts and shapes her as a person, and shes complex, with warring wants, and people she cares about, and dreams, and shes so messy. shes rough and rude and shes doing what SHE wants to, being a version of herself that feels right to HER, rather than some caricature of the hot badass evil lady. shes thirteen!! and she FEELS thirteen. shes a thirteen year old weird girl who is kind of an asshole, and she means literally fucking everything to me. shes a pirate!!!!! shes a swashbuckling badass dressing up in her larping outfit and yelling at her friends on the playground to swab the deck and she is the bestest ever, the end.

i didnt mean for each one of these to be longer than the last but here we are.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

i hate jdedave peace and love it just feels weird as hell to me. dave, for the most part, is hyper respectful of other peoples choices and boundaries but when it comes to jade hes always trying to mke choices for her, to protect her, and it gets to the point where even jade points out how much it bugs her. jades crush on dave also seems to come from a place of misunderstanding to me, admiring a lot of the parts of himself that he exaggerates and pretends to care about as a result of trauma. it always felt like a kid crush that they shouldve grown out of with time. dave also just sort of seems to... go along with whatever romantic relationships people push him into at that age, rolling with whoever flirts with him jsut bc hes trying to maintain the image of a player, so its really hard to take him seriously any time he hits on someone?

that is just my interpretation of it tho

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

well. i havent finished my reread of homestuck, so that feels difficult to comment on just yet, bc im sure ill have a different opinion when i do finish it. no one in dc gets character arc bc theyre all just undone immediately, so thats like. yeah. and in pjo the arcs are pretty weak bc 1) kids books and 2) RICK UNDOES THEM ALL. AUGH. regardless of all of this, i am going to say jason grace. he had a lot of development in like the last two hoo books, or maybe just like.... hints of how he couldve developed? promise? which rick immediately set fire to in toa when he killed him, but fUCKING WHATEVER. UGH.

anyway actually tho eleanor from the good place. bisexual icon. queen. probably one of the best character arcs of all time. the episode w her mom has some of the most powerful fucking dialogue ever and i think about it. all the time. i should rewatch the good place.....

#asks #redactedcrow

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still-functioning · 1 year

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3, 28 & 35

3. Sandman of the Endless is fond of Metallica fans bc their singing keeps his powers fully charged, so he grants them a special dream: you dreamt that you were chosen to play with the band one song of your choice, playing whatever instrument you like, it doesnt matter that you can’t play it in reality, you will play it PERFECTLY in the dream. Which song, which instrument.

Oh geez- ughhhh

I'm gonna have to go with Turn the Page, it's such a beautiful song and as someone who's dabbled in sex work and witnessed the things a mother must do for their child, it's so fucking powerful. I'm so glad they took the leap in making that song and having that be the topic of the music video. I'd be ecstatic if I got to play that live in front of thousands. I also feel like it'd sound amazing on Acoustic, really mellow out an already saddening song.

28. Is your fashion sense more in line with which member? (You can specify the era)

Kirk back in the mid-late 80s, definitely lmaooo

My graphic tees and messy hair are totally (coincidentally) reflective of his in that era. (Also please GOD PLEASE lemme hit, Kirk 😩😩🤝💦)

35. Is there a song of theirs that you skip most of the time?

Yes. Idc that I might get hate for this, I cannot listen to MOP anymore, it used to be one of my fave songs. It's not even because it's "popular", either - because God knows how huge Metallaica was even BEFORE Stranger Things - however, I can't bring myself to listen to it without hearing "Chrissy wake up! I don't like this, Chrissy wake up!!" (Or however tf u spell it lol).

Either way, great song, detest the way it's been turned into an anthem lol

#kirk hammett #metallica #james hetfield #lars ulrich #jason newsted #80s #rob trujillo #ask #anon #anon ask #answered

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many-gay-magpies · 2 years

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update i am still in that time zone but i’m about to be /6/ hours ahead instead! long story

hoon arms. i agree.

no you’re right heli as a person has some kind of chaos in him but is more lawful good about handling their powers and stuff… which is why it’s so Fucking Hilarious that he knew sooha for a singular day and decided “hey btw i’m telepathic.” the boys probably thought heli had lost his MIND. until they meet her and start spilling all their secrets like “oH okay we understand now” and they can’t even bully heli for being a hypocrite (speaking of people thinking jino’s fire power is a stunt, i have an essay length collection of Thoughts abt the boys joining a traveling circus while on the run by masquerading their powers as circus acts)

NOA AND CATS 😭😭😭 HEART SO FULL 😭😭 IMAGINE HIM CROUCHING DOWN TO BE EYE-LEVEL WITH A KITTEN AND JUST WHISPERING “hello” AND SEEING THE LITTLE ONE BLINK UP AT HIM IM DEVASTATED

shion being terminally online™️ is something i can Absolutely get behind. he probably has the world’s most active instagram and a decently popular twitter. so he’ll get this feed of information all the time and when something particularly juicy happens he’ll swoon onto the couch like “you won’t BELIEVE what beauty guru youtube is up to this james charles drama is positively INSANE” and everyone else just stares at him like he’s got a second head

PLEASE IMAGINE A GRANDMOTHER TRYING TO SET JINO UP WITH HER GRANDDAUGHTER IM DYING (he’d be very polite and say he’s flattered but would rather focus on nightball and his brothers rather than dating) the way it would just . throw the whole “Cool Guy” ruse under the bus. this isn’t an intimidating hot popular guy this is a kid who befriended someone’s GRANDMOTHER

ok this is long i am sorry for anything i have missed

-vrvr anon

gotta love some not-actually-time travel time travel

LITERALLY WITH HELI like i was not thinking about that when i declared him as being lawful good powers wise but thats so true??? like he literally only knew this girl for a DAY, less even, and he spilled what was probably his biggest secret to her no problem. and from his brothers' perspective i can totally see why they'd freak out as much as or probably MORE than they did in canon because?? thats heli?? overprotective overly-cautious notorious stickler-about-the-powers heli?? heli who pretty much resurrects and has a heart attack and dies again anytime any of his brothers use their powers for ANYTHING not completely uttery in secret?? THAT heli?? and he just?? tells this random girl he has telepathy no problem?? and its sort of partially justified by the fact that she ALSO has powers, but not really, because the boys are—what, several centuries old at this point? she's probably not the first person with weird powers or abilities who they thought was "like them" that theyve ever met, hell, i could see the orphanage using that as a ruse to lure the brothers into a false sense of security so they can capture them. her having powers isnt a failsafe for trustworthiness, so why is heli, mr. Paranoia Extraordinaire, just. doing it? so easily? he must be hypnotized, or trapped under the spell of a siren, or something—there has to be something wrong. but then, they meet her, and they all feel it, too—and it doesnt feel like hypnosis or a siren's call. it feels familiar, like theyve seen her before, known her before, been here before-- its so easy to fall into that unidentifiable familiarity and tell her everything, welcome her as one of them. why? why is it so easy? solon feels it the most, and, likewise, he's the most scared of it. sorry to get in my feels there but its kinda easy to do that with the dark moon LMAO

i dont know if youre being 100% literal about having an essay-length level of thoughts about the brothers joining a travelling circus while on the run. but if you ARE being literal (or partially literal at least). i would not object to hearing said essay. potentially an entire ask dedicated solely to that concept if it so requires.

YEAH NOA WITH CATS. AND LIKE BECAUSE HES SO UNAPPROACHABLE AND COLD-SEEMING NORMALLY HIS CLASSMATES PROBABLY THINK HED BE TERRIBLE WITH BABY ANIMALS, BUT THEN SOMEONE SMUGGLES A KITTEN INTO CLASS OR SOMETHING AND HE JUST MELTS INTO A PILE OF USELESS SMILING COOING SAPPY SLUDGE UNTIL THE BELL RINGS.

god yeah my mind is running. SO many places with that jino + grandma + failed set-up student concept. its kind of funny actually. because like,, i imagine theres a good handful of students at decelis that speculate (read: fantasize) about jino actually being a secret heartbreaker f-boy under his sweet, friendly, bubbly exterior. but then after the whole ordeal of jino befriending this grandma and said grandma trying to set jino up with her granddaughter (who probably just has a mistaken impression/idea of jino due to school grapevine gossip or whatever). they all end up in the same place at once and it is ANOTHER ordeal. the student looks at jino, who she ASSUMED was this suave player/womanizer, and her entire world is just turned on its head. "you befriended my grandma." "...yes?? i dont know whats so bad about that, she's a very nice lady." "you talked about CROCHETING and BAKING with my grandma." "...again, yes?" "you gossiped with my grandma about her bingo rivals." "...I--" "who are you??" "not who you thought i was, clearly." jino gets a friend maybe??

(as im editing this im praying that you arent online and/or havent read this yet BECAUSE I STRAIGHT UP FORGOT TO ADRESS SOCIAL MEDIA SHION i am appalled at myself /lh. anyways) going to add on more sort of at the end here because i was so wrapped up in Actually Answering And Posting This In A Day that i forgot an entire section of your ask-- i love the idea of In With The Times shion who has incredibly active accounts on basically every notable platform (which brings to mind the possibility of tumblr shion, but thats a thought for another day) and constantly tortures/confounds his brothers with pop culture info. him spewing the latest drama about some youtube beauty guru to his brothers over breakfast? reading aloud from a tweet thread about the latest celebrity scandal and how they should be Cancelled Immediately like it's the morning paper? IMPECCABLE i want all of it. also you gave me the mental image of shion buying a fainting couch and installing it in their dorms for the sole purpose of dramatically collapsing onto it when he's feeling theatrical and i adore it

please i do not mind the length nor any possible things you might have forgotten . to be honest i hit post on one of these babies and only remember a vague outline + a few specific points of what i said, your responding asks doing a LOT as far as helping me recall details. its like when you forget something and then remember when something else reminds you of it, if you dont bring it up theres a chance i forgot i talked about it in the first place LMAO

#asks #anon 📝#vrvr anon #edit-magpie also thinks that its hilarious that i had to come back and edit in an entire section id forgotten to adress after typing out a #-concluding paragraph about forgetting things in your asks

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kicktwine · 3 years

Note

do you have more thoughts on keyblade fighting that you need to put somewhere, because i have two hands ready to catch Should The Need Arise

anon: hey I heard you mention you’d analysed the combat styles in KH and what you said in the tags was already alluding to really neat stuff, but I for one would love to hear more of what you came up with!! so if you ever wanted to share any of your analysis then the floor is yours

aHAH, MY EXCUSE!!

Okay, so first some words on “standardized wielding styles”. These are styles shared by Terra, Aqua, Vanitas, Riku, and Xehanort and every other scala and daybreak kid. I will make the argument that the red style is the fanciest standard style, while the purple is seen often to make it easier on the little chibi sprites. BUT, I cannot discredit Eraqus, who uses the purple variant in bbs, nor can I discredit half of the Foretellers (Gula and Ava, at least, use this. Invi and Aced use the first type). So, two standard styles. For simplicity, let’s say one for primary offense, one for primary defense. The standard offensive style really wasn’t popular before Scala-era society.

check this difference out, specifically between ava invi and gula:

then between eraqus, hermod, and xehanort, and eraqus and terra.

These two were likely popularized and standardized for education in Scala ad Caelum for their predominant lack of obvious weak spots.

After this, we have unique styles. Those include Sora Kairi and Xion’s (similar to standard defense, but more mobile at the expense of form — Kairi takes after Sora but less confident, she hasn’t been hit that heavily yet), Ven’s (backhand, heavy range and mobility), Roxas’ (modified for two keyblades, but takes after Sora), and Axel’s (taught himself, comfortable with chakrams).

So! Let’s go.

Standard (offensive)

All styles have sub-variations, of a sense. Different wielders can choose where their keyblade points, and how they hold it exactly, based on what makes them most comfortable. Terra and Aqua point theirs downward, while Vanitas and Riku hold theirs above their head. What is recognizeable to this style is a hand for the sword, and a hand for guarding/blocking/items/magic.

It’s incredibly efficient. With only one hand on the weapon, you not only free up a hand for other things, but increase your range of movement with said weapon. Test it out yourself! The keyblade hand is always your dominant hand, held behind you for increased power when attacking (since you lose a significant amount of it by choosing not to grip with both hands). This style also decreases the speed of the defense you have, but with that increased mobility and swing power, along with a hand free to brace against the keyblade (defense strength up!), it makes up for it. Many people who use this also have strong barrier spells — both a testament to their preference for coverage and an acknowledgement that any directional block will take a little longer and be weaker if they try it with one hand.

The pointy end, though. What difference does it actually make, the height it’s at?

I think it’s half a matter of attack style preference and half intention. Riku, Vanitas, and Xehanort stab quite a bit. Aqua and Terra slice more. Not that they don’t do both, but it’s the first instinct. Aqua and Terra are also likely taught to hold their keyblade neutrally, in a safe position, until someone starts attacking. It’s polite! Eraqus also holds his one-handed, neutrally, until he gets into position. Riku and Vanitas learned to fight assuming everyone was out to fight them. Invi and Aced may like this style because of range (i hc she’s blind and strikes very very quickly, and he’s already very powerful with just the one arm and wants better motion).

and on character specifics: Terra often switches to two-handed, to copy his dad and add extra power to his hits without always sacrificing the empty hand. Vanitas likely was forced to relearn how to fight, as instead of solely being trained to be better at withstanding, he was constantly being made to better his own attacks. The moves Xehanort uses would best be replicated in the same style. Vanitas is wild for holding the massive spiky x-blade like that.

Now, what‘s good on this style does not correlate to what’s bad in the other. The two standard styles simply have different ways of dealing with each con they create or taking advantage of each pro.

(Here’s an interesting side note — Gula uses standard defensive, but in this instance, swaps. One hand… likely to display confidence! Wrong move, but hey. He got cocky. He’s also doing it wrong, and swaps back to two-handed to take Aced’s attack.)

Standard (defensive)

The main detriment of this style is the lack of ease of long range movement. Hold a wrapping paper tube out in front of you with both hands, then run. It goes to the side, or tucks in to your stomach, right? Dodge. Your legs will get in the way unless you know where to move that sword. It requires, interestingly, a little more discipline. You’d think Aqua would like that, but no, she wants movement and practicality, and she loves magic, and remember that you must take a hand off this style to grab a potion. You’d think young Eraqus wouldn’t, but remember that he’s a fancy royal lad.

The main draw, though, is tankiness, readiness, and power. You don’t need to move as much if nothing dares hit you! Ava and Gula might be attracted to this style because they’re not as physically strong, but want protection in close-quarters fighting. Using this style when your muscles aren’t as big but you still want to Hit Things Good, or when you want to be a boy you can’t knock over with a pail of water (horse stance rules), is probably solid advice.

Traditionally, this is a lot less like fencing, and a lot more like a samurai sword or kendo. Your blade is held in front of you, giving you very easy access to blocks and frontal attack/defense. In losing some twirly spinniness, you gain power and minimize your opponent’s ability to parry and block.

you gotta dodge master Eraqus so mcuh

All styles will swap between one and two hands for different moves. Eraqus, notably, swaps to a stance very similar to Xehanort when channeling a metric ton of magic.

Both of these styles require a degree of upper body/core strength, as does all swordfighting. I would be interested to see someone whose keyblade style relies on leg strength.

Sora, Xion, and Kairi

please look at the difference between the foretellers’ or eraqus’ two-handed grip and Sora’s. Do this with your shoulders and a top-heavy object.

They’re both in a hard stance, but hon. What are you, a gremlin? Anyways, a traditionally taught master would have… better form, even if it’s harder to learn at first. It’s habitual. Sora nearly crouches, and holds his keyblade back-pointed with two hands, which makes it easier for him to dodge roll, push off his feet quickly, and pull off those spinning combos he loves. It‘s really gonna hurt his muscles, in the future, though, since he’s doing a squat for like…. hours. Pulling on those shoulderblades and neck. Xion, too. Replicas had better have correct muscle dynamics. Kairi is brand new, so… maybe Aqua can teach her how to hold a sword so it doesnt hurt you.

Okay, now look at the grip itself. Held in front versus held to the side-back. They’re really attempting to combine both standard styles subconsciously, giving themselves more attack power while really wanting to keep that hard defensive parry, wanting to prevent all attacks to the front while also wanting mobility. It’s working for them really well, they fight like an anime character, and manage to get the best of both, with a minor sacrifice of length range that they don’t care about. We’re flexible and full of magic, baby! Holding the blade like this makes it pretty easy to let go with one hand without sacrificing that crouched defense position.

Now, Sora, specifically, is very adaptive. He’s had two keyblades, claws, guns, yo-yos, and a giant shield, to name a couple. He retains a bit of that alert crouch no matter where he goes, but Sora knows how he wants to attack and how to balance that with the most effective way to use his current weapon. He’s a smart kid! Sora has the most ridiculous shotlocks, which are also probably due to not always wanting to go standard for it. He also prefers to keep his focus on the enemy, which is evident in his reprisals and lack of very many effective “escape” moves.

Xion is very similar to Sora, but she does have some moves that are all movement. She switches to one handed for strikes a lot — using two for defending, one for smacking. In her data battle I’d swear some of those heavy hits are claymore-like. But anyways, since we’re magic, Xion cares not for the laws of exhaustion, and will ping about as a ball of light everywhere. Short range? Up in your business. Mid-range? In your business with one hand. Long range? Throws a boomerang. Hit her? No you dont. Ball of light. She’s above you and wants to bash your head in. (Vanitas also does this! A lot. It’s an easy way to catch someone off-guard. I’ll argue that the soras are very tough and strong, but not tanky. they want to avoid being hit a lot)

Another interesting note about Kairi. I say “unconfident” not because she doesn’t hit hard, but because her stance is also often tilted back, ready to dodge. It’s two handed, but almost all her moves are one. She does love spinning and throwing the thing! It looks like she’s been taking notes from the wielders she knows. It would be easy to teach her a standard style, I think. See here, she lets go on the strike, and by trying to do both, actually ends up with an advantage (being confusing) and disadvantage (losing both the power of two handed and versatility of one handed).

A counter to Sora and Xion is difficult to pin down. Time? Probably. Lack of heating pads. Something that takes all their attention is about the only way to get a sneak attack in, and then you have to hit hard. A counter to Kairi would be anyone who can knock her off balance. She needs a sturdier stance. .

Roxas

Roxas is interesting. He takes after Sora for the one blade. Wielding two, however, nets him a totally different way of fighting. Roxas’ clavicle muscles n… deltoids and stuff must be Ironclad. Also, two handed means you are very fast and sharp all the time. He has the advantage of standard defense (horse stance), and the advantage of offense (range of one sword, but twice).

Roxas generally attacks in two ways — simultaneous hits, and follow-up hits. Either he hits with both at once, or hits hard with the first one, and adds the second one as a bonus smack. He can attack by hitting in opposite directions with the two, like a drum, but that will be a little awkward and leave him prone to being tangled. That established, the follow-up hit method means he spins a bunch. As do we all.

Roxas gets a little complicated because we are not in the real world. We have magic and turning into light and physics that let you become a circular saw. So, typically, disadvantages would include: being unable to let go of a weapon to grab something or use an item, having just a very big silhouette to attack on, having difficulty with close-range attacks because Oathkeeper and Oblivion are kinda long, and convenience. Roxas gets to dodge #1 (keyblades can be unsummoned) and #4 (keyblades can be unsummoned). Speaking of dodging, he also gets to skirt the difficulty of dodging and rolling with two swords because he turns into a beam of light. But he can’t dodge how difficult it is to use two swords effectively — he needs to concentrate on fighting, and nothing else, or he risks messing up. He has to be very, very coordinated, and undistracted. Luckily he’s pretty good at making his opponents shut up, most of the time. Blocking is another thing — theoretically his blocks could be strong, but Roxas has no real brace: crossing your blades and taking a hefty stab might smack one of them back into your face. He mostly uses reversals and dodges, because of this.

The takeaway to this is Roxas is built for speed and power, and he is very strong. He’s a mid- to far- range fighter who if you’re not careful can snap you in half if you’re too close (be SO careful of that cross blade scissor).

A perfect counter to Roxas would be a tank that can grapple, and also be very distracting. If you can take hits, be talkative, and get close enough to stop his blades, you have a chance.

Ventus

This is a bizarre choice, my guy, but I get it.

Backhanded weapons are very impractical for a lot of... attacking, mainly in mid-range combat, and Ven likes to either fight very close or throw the keyblade like a boomerang (and hey, backhand gives it a good whip for throwing). His attacks aren’t meant to one hit KO, but they do come with a bit of power to them, especially on the backslash. Like holding a knife for gouging. It’s for very close defense — pretty good when Wayward Wind and Missing Ache have hooks.

Backhand also, while retaining that empty hand for potions and guarding, gives you an extreme coverage boost. By which I mean Ven’s sword hand now has a nearly 270 degree sweep of “I see you, don’t touch me”, very quickly, based on just flicking his wrist. It sacrifices a ton of strength/sturdiness, but you don’t need that if you’re dodging. You also don’t really need to block, which is slower, but relatively sturdy when Ven does it, as he blocks with mostly the chunky hilt between crossed arms. He sacrifices (again) a bit of strength for coverage — an attack would hurt his arms, not his chest, if he were hit head-on.

His attacks often have him flip the blade around in his hand, too. Quick swaps between standard moves and backhand ones. Basically, Ventus is built for moving, protecting himself, and quick attacks that wear down the enemy, not outclass it. Likely because he’s good at fighting, but everyone he’s fought hits harder than he can! It doesn’t matter how he holds it, getting hit will hurt. So he just. Doesn’t. He’s not a buff little guy — but he is a persistent one. Ven very likely made this up on his own, in Daybreak, and it was too hard to fix his whole style, but it was enough to correct most of his form so he doesn’t hurt himself too much. He is going to have to really stretch that shoulder and wrist (maybe get a brace), though. At least his neck is ok. … not sure about his knees tho dang boy that crouch

A perfect counter to Ven would be someone big and fast, who hits hard mid-range. He’s already been sparring with Terra, though, so when in doubt, try scruffing him?

Axel

Theres not a ton to say about him — he‘s not a swordfighter. He uses his keyblade like it’s a frisbee. Because that’s what he’s used to! His neutral is behind his back on his shoulder, which is terrible for readiness, but okay for chucking the thing. It’s good it has a sort of… ripstik like… boomerang quality.

Axel’s fighting style is completely made up, like most of the self-taught wielders’. His strengths lie in some of the benefits of standard offensive style (one-handed), and some of the same coverage stuff as Ven, having a cocked wrist most of the time so no one can sneak up around him without risking getting whacked very quickly, and having an interesting range due to the pointy end being basically on a spinny swivel wherever his hand moves. He’s not going to be good at close-range and he knows it — his attacks are mostly distance. And the guy has ZERO defense, combined with zero coverage when idle, so it’s for the better.

Distance-wise, though, he rocks. Treating the blade like it’s a flaming throwing weapon means his idle is actually great for sudden flick-tossing and attention-guiding for sneakier attacks, and his stance itself (…nonexistent) serves a different purpose: bait. Basically a big "come hit me". Fun, when you have a lot of fire magic and two friends who are beasts and love to take advantage of a distracted enemy — distance on the blade, proximity on the burning.

A perfect counter to Axel would be someone pinging around very close <—> very far and circling him incessantly. Like, data Xion could wreck him, as he has to wait for the boomerang to come back -- he no longer has two spinny wheels. Also someone with water magic.

SO! In conclusion! Having a teacher who teaches you correct sword usage rather than instinct may detract from overspecific styles that benefit you most but leave weak spots, but your muscles and your oversights will thank you. Everyone is glad we have the power of the Mouse and anime on our side.

Keep in mind again that I have done cursory research, and have had minimal actual sword instruction, I am not an expert and this is all for fun anyways :]

#I ran out of images which is homophobic #KH #ask #mojimallow #THANKS MOJI #If you’re wondering what the counter would be to Terra and Aqua; in terms of counters there are no counters #not style-wise anyways. That’s why they’re standard.#Terra can’t react very fast and Aqua needs more mp but that’s individual #and we are mostly talking BASE COMBAT here #of course lingering will can use keyblade transformations and there’s magic strategies — but that would make this post… much longer #brrrrrrr #kh analysis #kh meta #thanks to the handful of other people who asked me to expand on the same thing <3<3<3 #REALLY wanted to include one of Invi blocking — just go watch invi and aced fight for two standard offense #it Shows off their strengths and weaknesses #… no living adults do the two handed grip. Watch Sora and Xion’s data battle for an approximation I guess??#you. Hey you. Look in the notes rn #metazone

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