#this was fun to write!!!

[fangaminghell]

Okay. So for that OC assumption ask game... Hmm. I've always assumed that Imani is a chaotic gremlin when she wants to be, which sometimes scares her friends a little. How true is this?

I'm saying this based on the makeup tomfoolery she did with Ren and later Hauyne...

Imani: Well I wouldn't say chaotic-

Leo: Hey.

Imani: ...yeah?

Leo: Remember that time you broke into my house?

Imani: pfft-yeah....

Leo: In the middle of the night

Imani, trying not to giggle: Mh-mm

Leo: And for what, exactly?

Imani, chuckling a little: ...I needed a model-

Leo: YOU NEEDED A MODEL-

Imani: Oh, but you're a great model Leo! Everything fits you so well.

Leo:...flattery is going nowhere missy-

Imani: Oh hush, you should be thanking me! I know you used that outfit to impress that guy you liked-

Leo, blushing profusely: N-NO!

Asra: To answer your assumption, yes. Imani is very chaotic when she wants to be *sips tea* You should see her pranks.

Imani, holding Leo off with one hand because she's taller than him: Aawwwww, they aren't that bad!

Leo, struggling: Don't ignore me-

[dearest-valentine]

romellura, after an argument

a n g s t y thnk u!

It’s late. Much later than it should be, considering. The sun has fallen, the moon taking its place. Tick goes the clock, loud and mocking. Tick.

Romelle stares at her hands, deep in thought. Reciting, reciting, reciting. Mentally composing sentence upon sentence until she can’t bare to anymore. Allura’s pacing in the room over is muffled by the thin walls, keeping time with the clock.

Tick. It’s been too long. Tick. You’ve waited too long. Tick. No going back now. Tick.

She takes a deep, shaky breath. slowly unwraps her arms from around her knees. Carefully rises, carefully walks, all in trance—until she’s outside their room, Allura’s shadow peeping through the crack of the door. Muffled footsteps.

Tick. You can’t do this. Tick. Turn back and try again later. Tick. It’s too late. Tick.

Heart pounding, sound muffled, skin crawling; she knocks. Once, twice…

Tick. She won’t answer.

The shadow stills. The footsteps cease. Romelle holds her breath, heart rising and rising into a threatening crescendo—

The door clicks. Squeals. Light cascades out like a prisoner to freedom. And there she stands, curled in on herself and her hair tied up. Romelle worries her bottom lip, wrings her hands.

Tick. Mocking. Tick. Depreciating. Tick—

Allura stays silent. Romelle purses her lips, fingers twining together so tightly her knuckles whiten.

The silence envelopes her. Suffocates her. Threatens her.

“I’d miss you,” she whispers, throat tight. Allura looks at her through her lashes. “And I know that’s a selfish reason to ask you to stay, but…it’s all I have.”

Tick. It’s not enough. Tick. It’s not enough. Tick. You’re too late. Tick—

Allura smiles, her shoulder losing their tension. She uncurls from herself—just a sliver.

It’s enough.

[lordeasriel]

Whether or not Charles Cape is truly an ally of OS, he raises an interesting idea: there must surely be a number of "believers" in the organization who are simply opposed to the magisterium for political or theological reasons. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on if there are any other OS members in the books who are likely christian, just not in a conventional magisterium way. Personally I could see Godwin and maybe Nugent.

Oh, the chances of a great deal of Oakley Street being Christian are very high, so I wouldn’t be surprised if more of them opposed the Magisterium for thinking they misrepresented their views of the religion. I can Godwin being a christian woman, not a fervent believer, but she certainly would be the sort of woman who believed in God and went to Church on Sundays and had a cross necklace, for sure. She is a practical woman, so she wouldn’t let these beliefs get in the way of her sharp mind, but I can see her as a catholi, easily; it probably became a more recurrent thing after her son and husband passed away (we don’t know but I got the feeling she is all alone now, so maybe being more faithful or more church-inclined was her way of trying to get closer to them.

Nugent I think would be more of a christian by convenience. He is definitely a man who fears God, and he does everything he does keeping in mind that if there is a Heaven, he will be punished and rewarded accordingly and he can live with that. As a politician and a Privy Council member, I imagine that being a Christian by baptism, at the very least, would be considered a common sense thing. He would probably attend Church every now and again, and mostly be bored as he is more inclined to hate the Magisterium as a whole than Godwin is, in my opinion. But I can see him believing in God and being very angry with God over the bullshit the Magisterium does in His Name.

Other faithful members I can think of are Bud and Anita Schlesinger; they’re more like Godwin too; probably attended Church most Sundays, but they prefer the smaller churches, with less of a grandieur feel about them. As New Danish, I think that their relationship with Christianity is different than the European members of Oakley Street. I personally think that the Americas are less policed by the Magisterium due to the distance issues, so how Christianity spread there is fairly different than how England behaves or the rest of Europe do. I think Anita and Bud are more focused on the celebratory aspects of the Church; Christianity for them is cooking stuff for Easter, and Christmas, and finding solace in the wisdom of the Bible they were taught as children. It’s more about the rebirth and renovation other than the punishment and deprivation messages of Christianity - which the latter seem to be more of the focus in European Christianity.

I think Hannah Relf was probably was a believer in God, but she didn’t care so much about the rituals of the Church, which may cause her to be seen as an atheist here and there. She probably attended Church every now and again, mostly out of habit, and she would probably get bored for many of the sermons that she felt weren’t interesting - she’d probably be more interested in New Testament stuff, probably messages about knowledge and kindness and common courtesy - but she probably just attended Church because it was something people did, especially in St. Sophia’s. Most of the colleges had chapels, and while I can see Jordan not having many religious men due to them all thinking they were atheists and better than everyone else for it lmao St. Sophia’s is different because it’s a girls’ college, and most of these girls attend there so they can be on route to finding a proper husband, so common social stuff would be usual in their routine, like going to the church on Sundays and so on. So I can see Hannah attending on Easter, and maybe the Christmas Eve night or the morning after, but her belief is not reliant on ritual.

And the Al-Kaisy couple probably were also Christian. They are said to look like they were North-African, and I’m torn between this because I can’t tell if this meant to describe them physically or if Philman meant geographically, but either way I’m going with geographically because I think it would make sense regardless (Dr. Al-Kaisy has an accent in the audiobook, but I’m also cautious of that because they don’t explain the decision behind accents and all that, so this is hardly canon, but I take it because I like Michael Sheen’s narration a lot). As a I said, being North-African means they probably came from either a colony or a former colony (It’s tricky knowing what is what in Lyra’s world, thank you for nothing Philman lmao), which means that Christianity was probably enforced on their country and that could be in many ways. Usually former colonies have a very fanatical, fervent take on religion, especially because the Church took advantage of these people being abused and oppressed, and they just made things ten times worse, but this depends on where you’re from and when the colony period ended and a lot more than just Evil Church + Colonialism = Fanatics. But, I think the Al-Kaisy couple is very likely Christian, Yasmin probably more of a believer than her husband. I can see her attending Church and being more inclined towards faith, wearing religious jewelry, and so on. She is more cautious and fearful than the rest of the Oakley Street people at her home, and I can see how being part of a shady group like that would wear her down, especially if she believes strongly in God and Sin. Adnan would not be a strong believer; if you asked him if he believed in God, he’d probably say yes, but he is also a Scholar, and like Hannah he would be more interested in the historical value of religion than in the message itself. Whatever rituals he would participate, would probably just to satisfy his faithful wife.

After I wrote all of that - and I’m sorry about the length lmao - I feel the need to say, that like most things, I believe that Faith is very fluid, much like I described the people above. And the Magisterium is very tricky, because it has so many different variant of religious branches that I can see some people saying they’re Christian meaning group A, but other people saying they aren’t True Christians because they don’t follow group B and so on. At their core, they can all be Christian, but they are non-conventional, like you pointed out. I think that of the above, Yasmin Al-Kaisy would be the one closer to convention (aside from Charles Capes, of course, but he is like. A priest lmao) but I also think about how she isn’t European and how perhaps the Magisterium group that had a bigger hold on her country may not have been the same as the Church of England and how that would affect how people saw her. The least conventional is probably Nugent, I think.

Thank you so much for this ask, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I hadn’t know how to put it into words. I hope this at least answers you ask, cause I usually go on a tangent ashjhashjkash Sorry for the big, long post!

[romantic-suggestions]

I wanna ask my crush on a date, pls tell me how should I ask her out?

I’m going to preface this with something that struck me immediately when I read this, and that’s that you’re so brave! Honestly, I get flustered asking anyone out (it’s much more bumbling with girls though!) so good on you!

First things first, there’s a lot of different ways to ask someone out! It depends on what you want to go for, so I’ll list a few that you might find useful!

Giving a gift can be really good if your love language is gift giving (or hers is/might be!), plus I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love receiving chocolates or flowers from someone. If you’re not certain if she’s into you, something small like a little bag of Hershey’s Kisses or M&Ms is low-key, but if she and you are certain you’re into each other, branching out with some sunflowers or a bag of Lindt Lindor chocolate balls could be really sweet for her!

However, if she’s more into low key things just asking her quietly in a private place could be really good and effective! I do this mostly, and it’s really good especially since it gives the other person space to say “yes!” without any embarrassment, or if they do turn you down it’s much easier and less awkward. It’s also nice if someone appreciates being treated like they’re special to the other person, and it also means if she wants to hug or kiss you then there’s no pressure to do or not do that. Taking her hand after telling her and her saying yes could also be really nice for her, plus you’ll both probably be a bit trembly and happy and it’ll be a lovely memory!

If you play a musical instrument, you could play her something! Even just strumming a ukulele, singing a chorus of a song, or having your friends jump out from behind a wall and join you in singing a five-part harmony to “Fly Me To The Moon” will really mean a lot to her. Reciting a Shakespearean sonnet if you’re both English nerds, making a terrible pun (”You’re like a 60 degree angle... acute!”), really anything that you both can appreciate about each other!

And best of luck! I hope everything goes super super well between you two!

[girlbossk]

Boredom

this is for @starsandsupernovae, who just got her braces off and deserves a reward for enduring the pain of dental care for so long.

A blank brain is not equivalent to boredom, but Tony Stark never has a blank brain. The burden of genius is to always be thinking, always rushing between one idea and the next, never pausing to rest. This can’t stave off the bouts of boredom everyone gets, because those are the moments when Tony’s thoughts aren’t interesting, are filled with PR statements and conferences, his general vicinity filled with reporters carrying cameras and microphones. That is when he is bored. 

And Tony hates being bored. He pretends to not like the press because they’re invasive and annoying, and sure, that’s definitely a huge part of it. But most of all, they’re boring. A distraction from his work, from the number of other things he could be doing, from the fun he could be having. He tries to turn it into a game, but Pepper gives him the look and the game is over before it starts, every single time. 

He tries to slip something past her, to surprise her, but after the “I am Iron Man” PR fiasco, Pepper watches him just close enough to catch what he’s about to do. And that, in a way, is the game. He still cracks jokes, usually inappropriate ones, which Pepper turns her nose at and Rhodey cracks a smile. And those help the boredom—seeing the expressions on his friends’ faces, and playing the game. And when he can make Pepper smile, make her business façade slip to show the playful woman underneath? That’s when Tony has won the game. And it’s the best distraction from boredom in the world. 

Because Tony’s brain is always running. Running ideas for a new suit, ideas for what tea Bruce should try next, ideas for how to make his friends happy. But when the ideas stop? That’s when Tony is bored. If his brain were blank, the ideas would be gone. But the love would remain. The boredom pulls him away from the love, an annoying tug toward questions about how Stark Industries is doing in the stock market or whatever it is people wonder these days. And Tony would like nothing more than to see his friends smile, so could the reporters please move out of the way? Tony is bored. 

[makochosena]

15, 20, & 25.

50 oddly specific headcanon asks. | @xaedificare 

xv. Who do they tend to bicker with the most?

that honor would go to none other than miss Emma Gilbert! the ice to Rikki's fire. Emma is Rikki's foil. their powers and personalities are polar opposites, so they disagree with each other on almost everything!! 

the next person would probably be Zane, the person who is most like Rikki. while they have great moments, there are many times where they get on each other's nerves and bicker like an old married couple, like with Emma. the bickering seems to worsen when they aren’t dating. 

and after Emma and Zane, it’s pretty much anybody and everybody. Rikki is so incredibly stubborn and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. this is especially so with adults / authority. 

xx. Where are your muse’s ancestors from? Do they keep any of their traditions?

Rikki’s ancestors have been in Australia since pretty much its founding. Her ancestors have come from Europe, and can be traced back to Great Britain. While she is primarily English and German, there’s a whole bunch mixed in there. You can trace back to some Irish, Scottish, and even one Australian Aboriginal. But that’s so so so far back in her family history. Basically, English and German ancestors. 

And no, Rikki or her father do not keep any of their traditions. The Chadwicks never bothered keeping up with tradition. Tradition in this family is a thing of the past. The only traditions they follow are modern Australian ones, following the trend of Australian society and whatnot. Rikki barely even associates herself with English or German things. 

xxv. How many hours a day do they spend on the internet/watching TV?

ummm a decent amount. Rikki spends more time watching TV than on the internet. One of her hobbies is lying around on the couch and watching TV all day. She and her dad like to watch movies together. 

Rikki never owned a computer until she reached adulthood but she’d go to the JuiceNet to screw around on one. Even when she owns a computer, she uses it to watch TV, rather than surfing the web. 

but Rikki gets restless. she can binge a show if she’s super into it. but she needs to get out of her trailer. even socialize from time to time. there’s only so much she can take from a screen. even when smartphones become a thing, she’s not that one who’s always on it unless she’s playing temple run or some shit lol. 

[userlando]

7, Grayson girlfriend to him please

“In my defense, I thought this would go a lot more smoothly.” Grayson gave you a sheepish smile and you glared at him through the thick blob of milkshake that had stuck itself to your eyelashes.

He reached a hand forward, flicking the disgusting piece off your cheek and looking at the camera.

“So,” he sighed, laughing nervously. “I may have accidentally forgot to close the lid of the mixer, and as you can see Y/N got it everywhere.”

You held your glare, shaking your head as you turned to the camera. You had been filming a smoothie challenge with Grayson, having the bad luck to get all the disgusting stuff that you had prayed that you wouldn’t get.

He had been overjoyed at your devastated face, getting the sweet, good stuff for himself. But, being the clutz that he is, he had forgotten to place the lid over the mixer and it had splattered all over the surface of the kitchen, landing on your hair, face and the front of your body.

And you thought that the worst thing was to drink the smoothie, not wear it. But you were so wrong.

“I feel a bit sad,” you began and stood up. Grayson looked at you, face contorting into confusion as you neared him. “I think I need a hug.”

“No! Y/N, no!” He shot up off his chair, but not fast enough.

You secured your arms around his body, smearing him in the process, making him groan in protest. You laughed out loud as he squirmed, thinking that he deserved it.

[interstellarbooty]

Hello! I noticed in that About Me post you reblogged you said your favourite book is 1984, and I read it recently! I'd like to know how you felt about the ending if you don't mind; I haven't found anyone to discuss it with so I thought I could ask you~

Of course!! This is kinda long, so I’m gonna put it under the “read more“. I love analyzing and talking about books and stuff, and I love hearing others opinions so feel free to message me back with your view!!!!!!

I have so many feelings about the ending. I honestly have no idea where to begin…

I believe 1984 has a perfect ending. Orwell often writes about hypothetical futures of humanity should select individuals put themselves in a position of complete and absolute power, from which they can manipulate people and society to how they see fit. This is best shown in detail in the book Animal Farm, which if you haven’t read I also highly recommend.

While Animal Farm tackles this motif through metaphors and the images of animals on a farm, 1984 is much more direct - it being about the complete and and utter take over of the human race through social and economical manipulation. And following this trend, 1984, like Animal Farm, has an ending that can only really be described as ominous, foreboding, and dark.

Through the sense of foreboding that Orwell leaves the reader, I believe it’s meant to be viewed as a message: the world of Winston does not have to be our reality. So long as we are aware of propaganda such as Big Brother and the possibility of “phony wars” to divert the attention of the mass from what is really happening; conscious and critical of those in positions of power; and above all else, always cherish uniqueness, individuality, creativity, and love, we shall never find ourselves in a future such as the one Orwell depicted.

At least, that’s just my view of it. I could go on for ages about how brilliant that book is! What’s your opinion??