#in my mind everyone would be trying to internally justify keeping this secret bc all the war bots are kinda out of touch w their feelings

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

i have come up with a new, extremely self indulgent AU for tfrb:

basically what happens is each individual character in tfp accidentally finds out about the rescue bots, whether it's through a ground bridge mishap, an intel scouting mission, even a situation where they get rescued.

this starts out with mostly autobots, because i assume griffin rock is either in autobot territory or a neutral/unclaimed area (or it's off the grid and nobody knows about it) (i think the last one is the funniest), but the decepticons also learn about them eventually.

now. here's where the funny/self indulgent part begins. none of them know anyone else knows. the autobots AND decepticons all assume they're the only one who knows about these bots, and that the team has been trying to live a normal, calm life away from the war.

team prime doesn't know optimus and bumblebee already know, and the decepticons don't know that these guys have connections to the war. and of course, the rescue bots always manage to worm their way into every. single. bot's. spark. all of them individually grow to care about the rescue bots, and independently decide to keep them secret. nobody wants their new friends to get hurt!

anyways shenanigans of course ensue because it's very hard to keep a previously extinct group a secret from all of your friends, and since everybody knows but doesn't know everybody knows it becomes a lot of ridiculous sneaking around and badly lying to everyone.

the rescue bots are SUPER confused by all these bots who keep showing up, but they pretty much just assume that someone spilled their secret and everyone after are all showing up to meet them. eventually i think they would start to figure everything out, but they don't fully comprehend that everyone has been trying to hide them from each other until some big reveal happens.

the way this pans out is probably the end of the war honestly, because again; no one wants these guys to get hurt, physically or emotionally, and if that means having a ceasefire so be it.

[blackgirl0nline]

Okay so when writing "Dating _____ would include" type posts my mind tends towards understanding the character and their psyche. So this started off mostly fluff and got psychological and I'm sorry :'(

Dating Bruce Banner (Hulk) Would Include

super smart big brain boi

Hed be the type to always be teaching you something

"Hey honey come here? Did you know the residuals of melting points are often too great to predict..." and hed just ramble on and get invested and rant about something hes interested in. With such animated features as he explains the thing that hes finally wrapped his mind around

teasing him for being a smartypants would he just *chefs kiss*

"mhmhmhm yes sir professor banner sir I totally know what you mean when you talk about the disassociating particular movement of theoretical transkineiontal matter and the implications of which have temporal ramifications. That's clear as cristial doc"

[[MORE]]

teasingly calling him "Doctor" or "Doctor Banner" and him blushing everytime because you praising his intelligence is genuinely the biggest compliment. Because sure he knows he's smart but you finding him sexy for being smart is the bees knees. Like the fact that you dont see him as some genius freakazoid with no life beyond the lab is something he cherishes. Even if you mean it jokingly

DID SOMEONE SAY PRAISE KINK BC I- dr banner owns that shit

At first hes very shy about it, saying you're flattering him, because hes particularly unsure of himslelf when equations aren't involved.

But he eventually warms up to accepting compliments gratefully and with a bit of a shy smile especially around other people.

But he also gives praise right back

Honestly dont see him being too big on nicknames. Just calls you by your full first name because hes like ew old. Unless everyone calls you by the short version because he isn't like that spicy

And that's the thing hes literally not *that* kinky because hes a tad bit boring. Like not tok many secret desires running around his head

literally steal his glasses he's very blind. Or at least exaggerates it for your amusement.

All the cuddles

So many cuddles

Cuddles for days. Where hes wrapping his big arms around you just to feel like hes keeping you protected and safe like nothing could hurt you

Falling asleep to his gentle breathing

If you have trouble sleeping hed totally read to you till you fall asleep. Usually he'd wanna read some of his science-y books so he doesn't fall behind on research + he knows you find it boring so its kind of a double whammy

Will totally read game of thrones if that's what you prefer or YA or fucking Caillou because anything to help you sleep

He loves giving forhead kisses

Will literally go along with anything like a big baby. And he loves the fun and quirkinessTM you bring like a spark of joy. He just doesn't know what hes getting on any given day.

Yall balance each other out. But when you're helping to calmn him down that's when he loves you the most

When you're his peace his respite from the world that's amazing

Hanging out with you after a stress filled day and you just kiss the top if his head and talk to him softly and hold him. That's why he loves you

You can be high energy but also there for him when he needs to not hulk out and its genuinely so lovely.

Oml hes so shy tho.

Like being around people can just stress him out. It has to be his freinds.

That's why hes so thankful for you because you dont force anything on him the moment he doesn't seem comfortable yall take a moment to slow down

But dont treat him like glass either. He won't break. He hates when people just walk on eggshells around him. It makes him feel uncomfortable like hes inconvencing everyone.

The thing is hes kind of a complicated guy

Like yeah hes shy and all. Because hes insecure because of the other guy + having to keep track of social cues and not trying to sound like an old boring professor and not trying to sound condescending and trying to understand pop cultural references and it's too much at once and gets him frustrated so hed rather stay out of it

But he genuinely is too much in his head. The more mentally isolated he becomes the more he just rominates in his thoughts the more his temper gets short.

Like make no doubt he has anger issues

Genuinely he gets so frustrated with himself and sometimes itll come off as rude or curt

But hes mostly projecting it at himself or his work

That's why he spend hours in the lab. Hes so stubborn and harsh against himself that he won't let himself off the hook.

But is dangerous the more and more he gets in the habit of just being in his own head and critisising himself the more and more he gets distant with everyone else and sometimes rubs ppl the wrong way or comes off as a guy with a major attitude

"Hey Bruce do you-"

"I'm busy." Without turning around or contextualizing it

You physically have to get in his face.

But you run the risk of an outburst. Hes snapped at coworkers before. Never at you. Most of the time he recognizes "oh this is someone I love and dont want to fuck up a relationship with" and slowly decompresses

Once he comes to his senses is out of his head and calms tf down and stops being mad at himself hes just your big ol teddy

"Hey sorry I didnt mean to be so mean... what's going on?" Small smile on his lips eyes shining because he cherishes you

You roll your eyes because of his mood swings but will soften because you know hes just like that

Yall might get into arguments

I cannot lie. He cant be a perfect boy all the time. But think of it this way, hes stubborn and intelligent and self critical and bipolar and his internal mechanism to deal with stress is to turn it into frustration then anger then get big and green and wreck shit. So when hes frustrated with you (usually about you not agreeing with how much he works) he might not want to aquess to you. He might wanna stand his ground and demand you hear his side. Because in that moment hes justified and he knows that he's correct.

And you have to just eventually get that arguing with him won't work hes too stubborn sometimes. If hes arguing its only because its something he thinks it's worth arguing over. Just learn to de-escalate and you'll get him to be reasonable on anything

He can be hella condescending. A guy with 7phds doesn't do so withought thinking hes pretty smart. But you treating him like hes stupid ticks him off. Dont treat him like an idiot.

Or a kid. Just because hes awkward you dont have to use that against him. Teasing him for being a bit antisocial or teasing his bad social skills can be a reason for a real fight to break out.

And it really is a clear escalation you can see how he rises in anger. So most of the time it's easy to spot it, orient yourself and stop it

His social akwardnes is helped by the avengers, people like Tony help him socialise and get outside the lab and talk to people. Tony helps him communicate through difficult problems that usually leave Bruce frustrated with himslef

You and Tony are two pronged. He calls you in when he thinks Bruce needs a break and you entrust Tony with making sure Bruce isn't burning out.

Them being science bros goes deeper then you know. They help each other out. Bruce forces him to collaborate more by covering the things Tony isn't an expert in. And he's a voice of reason in some cases.

Bruce can be very level headed when hes not stuck in his own. He'll tell Tony what's going too far. The only issue is that Tony won't always listen. You and Pepper are about the only two people who can force Tony to listen to Bruce's prudent scienc-y advice

They both respect each other immensely for their intellect. But both can be bull headed. Tony doesn't like working with other because that means he has to admit he isn't really the smartest guy in the room. And Bruce doesn't hate working with others but when he doesn't feel heard or feels used or dejected he can get frustrated and snappy

The fact that you're still around despite all his bad qualities makes you that much more loveable to him.

[handern]

Yo it's Arthur anon. I've started listening to Mike Duncan's History of Rome podcast with space partner and ???? I've taken world history classes. I KNOW that Rome conquered Gaul but holy shit. It's really messed up that even in like, french history classes what we got was "Asterix" and not genocide. Is this just an American miseducation thing, or does everyone just like, pretend it wasn't that bad to cover for later imperialism???

Oh yeah it was pretty fucked up

I hate Julius Caesar's guts so when you get me started I can go off for hours

I'm going to talk only from memory of my classes and readings on the topic from 3 years ago (ok that was INTENSIVE reading bc I hate that fucker and read everything I could find) so bear in mind that some things might be not too accurate but I'll keep it vague to give the big picture (also I'm biased bc I hate his guts)

Basically Caesar wanted real bad to be senator but to be there you had to have military victories and a LOT of money to pay for public installations (and probably bribery but given a much more palatable name than bribery)

Except that he needed to be appointed to the administration of a territory in order to justify being a general going to war and stuff

If I recall correctly he wanted Macedonia or a region close to Macedonia bc it looked cool and there were a lot of resources to steal there except, BAD LUCK, the one person in charge of the administration of a roman region who kicked the bucket soon enough was the one handling Gauls

Now they already had been commercing with Gauls of a long, LONG time, they had access to commercial roads and controlled a part of the south of France already and Spain, and well, contrary to the greeks who were a bit further away, Romans were neighbors with the Gauls

Basically his whole campaign was briberies and throwing a chief against another to have them kill each other, then throw the losing clan into slavery, which is exactly what europeans did in africa and in the americas centuries later (or tried to do at least)

Romans were technologically inferior to the Celts, who had kickass metallurgy techniques for both shields and swords and their scabbards, but the Romans still managed to get these "secrets" from whoever sold it to them and it turned the tides in their favor

Basically the only reason the Celts lost the fight was that they were not united, which Vercingetorix tried to do but too late (that's the really fast version)

What's fascinating is that the Romans had already started the conquest much before Caesar, but in a slow insidious way

Through commercial roads people had to learn to speak roman/latin, they offered scholarships to the rulers' heirs (Vercingetorix served in the roman army), they kept themselves up to date with their politics and religion and internal conflict, etc.

The military part was really just an excuse for Caesar to show off, steal riches and get more slaves to sell so he could be senator, all while shoving new names to the Celts' groups/political systems, and pretending that he did much cooler stuff than he really did in his books, which were propaganda tailored to impress the Senate and should never have been taken as history books like historians and scholars did for centuries

And after that was done, it was just a matter of building a few cities and send some Romans in there, almost EXACTLY like that asterix book where Caesar builds a shopping mall near the village and everyone goes oh it's actually cool to have some theater and running water and also they're not trying to kill us anymore! cultural assimilation was always the best weapon of war of the Romans, along with propaganda and their law system

Long story short : yeha it's not just the USA, I'm french and only heard of all that bc of my archeology studies and I remember very clearly going to my history teacher at age 14 to ask when we would stop learning about Rome and pre-roman Egypt and actually learn about the Gauls. He was very embarrassed to say that the Gauls were not in the national program, but neither was the cultural assimilation of Egypt, we were only taught about the pretty parts so the pyramids and the gods

AND NOW THAT I'M ON THE TOPIC

the image we have of the celts nowadays is 50% imperialist fuck Julius Caesar's fault, 50% Napoleon's imperialist ass' fault and I'll die mad about it

[bubonickitten]

So what do you think are anders best traits (other than him worrying about mage rights and him being a compassive healer?) I really love him and I love the way you write about him so I'm just curious.

There’s a lot I love about him :0

I mean, on a personal level, he’s a really relatable character for me, so that’s part of why I like him so much.

But I also like him as a character in general. (I’ll put this post under a cut bc it got long.) 

Him being a compassionate healer and being incredibly passionate about mage rights are huge parts of his character and they’re honestly two of the biggest things that make me like him so much. 

Like, here’s a person who was subject to systemic abuse for most of his life, who knows full well the repercussions of rebelling against the status quo, but does it anyway, because his convictions are just that strong. He knows that the Circle and the Chantry are fundamentally wrong. He’s experienced and witnessed firsthand what happens to people who fight back. Hell, when we meet him Awakening, he’s only just recently been released from a year of solitary confinement for running away - he just got out and as soon as he was able to, he ran again. If he gets caught and sent back to the Circle again, he’s going back into solitary confinement at the very least, and by the time he’s in Kirkwall, he’s also possessed by a spirit, so he’s risking just being killed outright. He’s risking everything by fighting back so openly and actively, but he does it anyway. 

And it’s not just Justice’s presence that makes him so willing to fight. Even when he was running, he was fighting back, because by constantly running away, he was refusing to submit. But in Awakening, Anders did feel like he couldn’t have any impact on the status quo - he believed that things would change eventually, he believed that the way mages are treated is inherently and fundamentally wrong and one day things would be different, but he didn’t think he’d ever see it in his lifetime, and he didn’t believe he of all people could do anything to enact change. Justice helped him realize that he could be an agent of change, but that fire and that strong sense of right and wrong were already there - it just needed to be validated and encouraged, which Justice did for him. 

And I do like that Anders needed support to be able to get to that point, bc I feel like that’s... realistic, y’know? I don’t like the idea that everyone should have to fend for themselves and not have to rely on others to stand up and fight. He couldn’t do it alone, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He hasn’t gotten much support from others throughout his life, so I like that in this instance, he had someone to lean on. (And I still wish there were more opportunities to support him more actively in DA2.)  

Like, it was difficult for Anders to admit to those feelings of powerlessness - which is entirely understandable, because in his experience, showing that kind of vulnerability could get him killed or worse (if the templars considered a mage to be weak-willed, they might not even give them a chance at the Harrowing and just make them Tranquil outright - and Anders is canonically mentally ill, which I imagine added an extra burden in terms of hiding his vulnerability). So, outwardly, he talked a big talk about only being concerned with his own freedom and pretends to be more apathetic and careless than he actually is. 

This also shows a lot in terms of his sense of humor - it’s a lot of morbid sarcasm, irreverent joking, gallows humor even - because he uses it as a shield and a coping mechanism. Ngl, I love that aspect of him, it’s one of the things that started endearing him to me in Awakening first. I play my Hawke as having a similar sense of irreverent, snarky humor, so they play well off of one another. Humor as a coping mechanism is a character trait I tend to appreciate and relate to a lot, haha. 

Anyway, I think in actuality he cares so much it hurts. It might not seem like it when we first meet him in Awakening, but I think it’s just that it’s easier and psychologically safer for him to pretend he doesn’t care than it is to admit that he does care but feels powerless to change things. It takes a lot of strength (and also support from others, which again, is something that Anders hasn’t had much of throughout most of his life) to be able to confront your own vulnerability and try to channel it into something that benefits others. 

But even in Awakening, his actions often contradicted the “I don’t care about anyone but myself” talk - if you tell him to run away in the beginning of the game, he’ll do so, but he shows back up like five minutes later because he felt like he couldn’t leave the Warden to fight the darkspawn alone (he jokes about being “bad at the whole ‘fugitive from justice’ thing”, which... turns out to be way more accurate than he may even realize in that moment). In the endgame, he’s not eager to go along with the Warden to Amaranthine, but if you do bring him, he’s one of the companions who will argue against leaving Amaranthine to burn - his instincts might tell him to run, but he cares too much about the survivors in Amaranthine to leave them to their fate. 

Not to mention, canonically, spirit healers are kinda rare. They derive a lot of their power from spirits of compassion, which means earning spirits’ trust and cooperation. A person who isn’t compassionate probably wouldn’t be able to earn that cooperation of a spirit of compassion in the first place. Not to mention his interest in being a healer in general - it’s a big part of his identity, to the point where in DA2, one of the things he worries most about is not being able to heal anymore because he’s so afraid that he or Justice will accidentally hurt one of his patients.

I think a lot of his attachment to the healer role is also tied up in his own internalized belief that he has to be a Good Mage in order to deserve freedom - it seems contradictory, it’s something that goes against his stated principles, mages shouldn’t have to prove themselves and be ‘good’ mages according to the Chantry’s fucked up doctrine to deserve freedom and life and love, but he lived in the Circle for at least half his life and he definitely internalized a lot of the hateful messages they taught about mages. Fighting against those teachings is a constant battle for him - which also ties into his occasional crises of faith, because he’s an Andrastian and all the spiritual authorities in his life have taught him that he’s a non-person, that he’s inherently sinful and cursed and deserving of subjugation because he’s a mage. 

So, he has a lot of moments of self-doubt. He has a lifetime of trauma and abuse that affect his present well-being. He has a lot of self-loathing and a lot of fear of himself (the latter esp after merging with Justice). He doesn’t see himself as worthy of love or care, even if he talks passionately about how mages deserve those things - he often doesn’t give himself the same consideration that he’s willing to give others. He has an incredibly complicated relationship with his own anger - because his anger is totally and completely justifiable, but it scares him, because he associates rage and anger with demons and loss of control. (I think a big source of the conflict btwn he and Justice is how they differ re: embracing and accepting anger. For Justice, that anger is righteous fury, it’s justified, it’s a source of passion and change. For Anders, it’s a source of fear and insecurity a lot of the time. I think a lot of their miscommunication is rooted in that fear.)

But Anders works himself half to death trying to help as many people as he can for as long as he can, and even though he’s barely making a dent in all the suffering he sees in the world, even though he’s risking everything, he just keeps going, because that’s how strongly he believes and that’s how much he cares. Every mage he helps escape the Gallows, every patient he helps in his clinic is worth it to him. That kind of perseverance in the face of hopelessness and doubt and a world set against you is really admirable to me.

And I also like how clear it is that it doesn’t come easy to him. It’s not just some inspiration porn “you can do anything you set your mind to if you just try :)” thing. He stumbles a lot. He fails a lot. He spends most of DA2 in a constant state of anxiety and desperation (esp since he really doesn’t get much support from the people closest to him, except like… Justice and Hawke, if you play Hawke in a supportive role). He’s idealistic, but he can’t help but dip into periods of hopelessness and depression and doubt - partly because he has a mood disorder, partly because that’s just… expected for someone who’s seen as much shit as he has. His life is messy and he’s tired and it shows. But even when he’s running, he’s fighting. Sometimes, survival is in itself a form of rebellion and he’s a walking example of that. He is stubborn and although sometimes it’s a negative, it also has its perks. And that passion doesn’t just manifest as rage - it’s also love, because lbh, he is a hopeless romantic (in a dorky, endearing way at times) and in his romance route he loves Hawke fiercely.  

It’s a shame that he didn’t get more positive character development in DA2 (it’s no secret how resentful I am toward the writers, he and Justice really deserved better). I headcanon him over time learning how to communicate and coexist with Justice; learning to practice self-care and be kinder to himself; more fully accepting that he has a right to be angry and he doesn’t have to prove that he’s deserving of personhood or love.

And he has a fair amount of flaws for sure - he has a tendency to project his insecurities onto others (e.g. Merrill), he’s not a good ally to other marginalized groups (e.g. elves), he sometimes lashes out at others when they don’t deserve it (which, although I understand why he behaves that way, it still isn’t fair to others who are on the receiving end), he was manipulative in the ‘Justice’ quest (I understand his motivations but despite his intentions it wasn’t acceptable behavior) - but I think he has an ability to better himself in those areas and I like to headcanon that personal growth for him. (That’s not to say I want him to be a flawless character - nobody’s perfect, and a flawless character would be pretty flat and unrealistic, but I also like when characters are allowed to have personal growth in a positive direction.)

I guess, in all, he’s an interesting, likable, and relatable character for me - I wish the writers treated him better, I have a lot of criticisms wrt how he (and Justice) were written (including how Anders was treated as a bipolar character), and I’m also willing to criticize him where it’s deserved (I have a whole tag full of meta w/ my criticisms of him) - but overall he’s one of my faves.

 Tbh the reason why DA2 is my fave game in the series (despite all of my criticisms of the writing in it, esp Act 3) is the characters. Hawke is my favorite protag and DA2 has probably my favorite companion group - like, Anders, Merrill, Fenris, Isabela, and Varric are some of my fave characters in the whole series - so the characters are ultimately what make me like that game.