#And the second one is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.

[aspirant1598]

[hopeastrz]

STELLIUMS IN SOLAR RETURN CHART tips and tricks on what to avoid and how to benefit from them!˙✧˖°🥮 ༘ ⋆｡˚‧.

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If you don’t have a 3 planet stellium, see where you have 2 planets, so for example if you have sun and mercury on the 3rd house and mars and saturn on the 7th read about both houses!.

NOTE: enjoy this post and don’t forget to reblog, thank you for your support, lots of love xoxo!! ₊˚⊹౨ৎ🍊.

STELLIUM IN THE FIRST HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, get a nice haircut, get to know your approach to life more, get to know your direction in life and what may be the next step for you, it’ll be a year of self discovery journey, and it’s the best year to work on your approach of life, you should focus more on your style, see what suits you and what doesn’t, work on your self concept and build your confidence and also it’s the greatest time to find your passion!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Becoming aggressive, moody or be hard on yourself, becoming critical/judgmental of others and yourself!, not taking care of yourself, shy away from spotlight don’t hesitate to!, becoming way too self centered and thinking that people reactions are because something you’ve done!.

STELLIUM IN THE SECOND HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Buy new makeup, perfumes, work on your self worth, start investing money I don’t care even if you have saturn on the 2nd house start a business and earn from it!, since it’s a saving year indicator, one where you look for more stability and comfort, take care of your finances and learn more about how money works!, learn to manage your money right and spend it wisely, become strict!, it’s really good time to start giving old things in order to welcome new ones, like old clothes or possessions, since you may have this urge to keep buying new things, and in order to keep balance learn to donate your stuff, good karma and do that especially if you have saturn!, start singing loudly too it’ll be healing!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Spend wisely so that you don’t cry at the end of the year, don’t waste the opportunity and reconsider you values, set firm boundaries and goals, also don’t waste time and truly buy stuff you only need!, never put your emotional health and security second place, care more about your feelings!.

STELLIUM IN THE THIRD HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Whenever you feel anxious journal, or go on a car ride even if you don’t have a car, call a cab or go on a bus and put your headphones on, but it’s an amazing time to work on how you introduce yourself, or in other words practice how to talk your mind, communicate with people, and how to share your opinions properly!. it’s a great year to learn about the law of assumption, get closer to your siblings or your neighbors, you can buy a new cell phone, get lots of phone calls and even do lots of social activity or finish high school!, if you suck at maths that year is pretty good to learn the basics again and educate yourself on it, also go on short trips find new interests and start a social media account.

WHAT TO AVOID:

DO. NOT. OVERSHARE. learn how to shut up when needed and i know you’ll have an urge to talk to no end but please shut up!, also don’t indulge yourself into gossip it’ll end up being so messy, try to stop overthinking and don’t believe any rumor you hear!, also take care of your siblings!.

STELLIUM IN THE FOURTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

great time to go back to your roots, aka work on your family trauma or stuck issues with your family and heal from them!, you may start a new family, become a parent, settle down, buy a new apartment or move from your home, so to have a fresh it’s okay to forgive them!, heal your inner child and read more about such topics, focus on your emotional needs and understand yourself more, if you’re a fem then lean into it more, get closer to your mother, decorate your room, also it’s a great time to buy properties and invest or learn cooking and baking yummy yummy!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

getting into fights with your parents because they’ll get on your nerves alot!, so for your mental health pay them no mind!, don’t keep your place messy.

STELLIUM IN THE FIFTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

EVERYTHING, i love love loveee this placement and not just for the romance nuh uh, as a woman who doesn’t even date I’ve had the most fun on year i had 5th house placements, go to concerts, festivals and arcades, party and enjoy your life really, you won’t feel like you wasted your money on these things trust me, go to an art course, go to movie theater!, just go out and don’t stay at home!, also enjoy your talents and get ready for the spotlight!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

hookups, unprotected sex since it might lead to sudden pregnancies, getting lost at new places, getting a bit over the head, be careful of becoming narcissistic or kinda full of yourself!, also choose your romance partner carefully don’t rush into love, because you’ll see the world in heart tainted sunglasses this year!.

STELLIUM IN THE SIXTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Think about getting a glow up, it’s the best time for self improvement, plan a routine and follow it, even if you found it hard to build one before it’ll feel easier this year to stick to it!, greatest time to start a series of new habits, work on your body and focus on your health, try building muscles, bulking, going to the gym or walking more, try to journal, read frequently and heal your skin, do some skin care, also get your body checked, get along with your coworkers and focus more on how to make the best out of your job!, routine will never fail you oh and maybe get a pet too!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Avoid over stressing/overtiring yourself, ignore your health or hygiene, avoid going into fights with your coworkers, beware of becoming a people pleaser or give more than you take to others, beware of stray animals, don’t go on a very strict diet especially if you have pluto on the 6th house!.

STELLIUM IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

start a business with others, or start your own business, go for that lawsuit, look for that long term partner or take the step for up leveling your current relationship. Incase of getting married enjoy the process of this new era!, it’s the best time to test your partner and see if they’re worthy enough of you!, also enjoy the feeling of becoming extra attractive!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Beware of getting into useless conflicts, don’t be over concerned of others, beware of love affairs especially if you’re already dating someone, beware of getting scammed i’d say don’t take the step of business partnership if you have uranus or neptune influence on the 7th house.

STELLIUM IN THE EIGHTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Embrace new major transformations, get ready for change and allow it!, explore your sexuality more, invest, join the stock market (don’t if you have neptune or uranus), learn spiritual practices because you’ll get more spiritual, best times to learn astrology and tarot, keep secrets, learn more about psychology, do that plastic surgery you’ve had in mind if needed only, also heal your trauma.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Go against the flow and get scared of the rebirth you need to go through, hate the constant change and how intense your emotions could be.

STELLIUM IN THE NINTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Choose a different college major, adopt new beliefs and focus on your higher education, travel more, good time to visit your grandparents, try to stay with them more, learn a new language, learn about you religion and just literally learn anything!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Going to a country without any background of their culture is!, see what’s appropriate to do and what’s not, ignore your university studies or just basically getting distracted!.

STELLIUM IN THE TENTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Time to build your legacy, go all out!, also work on your reputation, time to build the public persona you dreamt of, set long term goals and know what you want to be in the next 5 years, fulfill your responsibilities and get ready for recognition!, also fix your problems with your father, get closer to your bosses, network!, build a professional name and really get serious about building your career!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Doing things that’s harmful or shady for your reputation, avoid suspicious things this year because everyone will have you on the tip of their tongue. Not taking your responsibilities and your work seriously, disrespecting your bosses, procrastinating, not being professional or efficient.

STELLIUM IN THE ELEVENTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Networking for your career, become more social, meet new people, change your toxic friends circle, cut who you don’t feel comfortable with!, go out more, learn about the law of assumption, manifest your desires, GET THAT BAG, start a new social media account or an online business and earn from it!, very high potential for success, watch new films, save to buy a new phone or laptop, know what you hope and wish for in the future to aim for it, make your debut in society and share your work and talents, go to parties, donate to some organizations and also join a club!.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Letting toxic people stay in your life this is the best time to cut them, don’t know anything about politics or have any sense of social awareness, be shy and miss lots of opportunities, not knowing you boundaries when it comes to friends and relationships!.

STELLIUM IN THE TWELFTH HOUSE:

WHAT TO DO:

Heal, this is a rest era for you, take some time for yourself and heal, repay your karmic debts, focus more on your dreams and try interpreting them, see the messages they have for you, tame your subconscious mind for your own benefit, become more spiritual and seriously, take this time to explore your emotions more and your inner self, find your peace and find solitude in yourself!, best time to end toxic habits and relationships, basically anything you want to stop, listen to subliminals, affirmation tapes, cherish your privacy and stay private, reflect on the past and break free from what’s holding you back, also sleep more and attempt a healthy sleeping schedule, oh and eat fish lmao.

WHAT TO AVOID:

Repeating old cycle, this is really an opportunity to change!, ignore your dreams, become isolated, become depressed because you’ll trauma will surface so HEAL, ignore your subconscious mind needs and thought patterns, drink or consume alcohol, beware of addictions.

[totheankles]

never quite free | shouei barou

⋆˙⟡♡ wc: 3.9k

⋆˙⟡♡ tags: gn reader, childhood friends, so much pining, barou is a softie for his person, barou-centric, reader is drunk, one (1) instance of vomit

⋆˙⟡♡ a/n: i love when mean, loud characters are softies for their person. so i wrote 3.9k words about it with the mean, loud man that has been haunting my every thought. enjoy!

at the wise age of seven, after just witnessing you punch a boy in the face for insulting your sidewalk chalk art, shouei barou made you a promise: he will always be there for you. he swore that day, crossed his heart and hoped he’d die if he ever failed you (far too serious for a seven year old, but he has always taken his promises very seriously), he will drop everything to help you.

“but why?” you had asked, and grabbed your chalk to resume your drawing.

he crouched down next to you to get a better look at what you had done so far, red eyes tracing over the rainbow you were trying to perfect. “you’re too pretty to be punching anyone.”

and, to seven year old shouei’s credit, he’s consistently kept his promise over the years. even after your parent’s split and you were allowed to be neighbors every other weekend. even after high school finally separated you two and he could only walk you halfway to campus before your routes diverged (he would always carry your bags for you until that point). even during the blue lock program when talking to you was a privilege he had to earn rather than something he did every single day. and now, as a professional athlete with an obnoxiously busy schedule, shouei is always there for you, sponge and wet wipe in hand, ready to clean whatever mess you’ve inevitably made.

which is why, at two o’clock in the morning, after too many drinks at a bar you’ve never been inside of before, it feels like second nature to call him.

alongside with keeping his promises, shouei also keeps a very strict routine. so when his cell phone starts trilling at an ungodly hour, his first instinct is to curse out whoever thinks it’s a bright idea to disrupt his sleep during his off-season. but once the cobwebs of sleep clear from his brain, he realizes there’s only one person who can bypass the do not disturb mode on his phone: you. he’s swiping his thumb across the screen in a heartbeat.

there’s a thump of some sort of bass music in the background of the call, several different conversations muddled together to create a white noise effect, and then your voice breaks through it all, a bit slurred but still carrying a familiar soft quality to it.

“shou-kun,” you breathe into the line, and shouei is up and putting pants on.

“where are you?” his voice isn’t unkind, but the gruffness of sleep is still thick and causes him to sound more irritated than he actually is.

you give him the name of the bar you’ve found yourself in, and shouei is punching in the address on his phone’s gps as he’s sliding a shirt over his torso.

“stay on the phone with me?” you ask, and he can hear the pout on your lips.

he sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose. “yeah, sure, but go somewhere quieter. loud as shit and i’m still waking up.”

you sound a bit more sober as you reply, “‘m sorry, shou-kun. i can ask someone—”

“don’t be. i’m getting my shoes on. keep talking to me.”

it takes every ounce of self control to obey the traffic laws on his drive to the bar. logically, he knows you’re okay. you’re babbling on about the intricacies of a sourdough starter (“is it even worth all of that effort?” “i’ll make you a loaf and then you can tell me if it is.”), and sipping on some water (bottled of course, and he made you watch the bartender hand it to you). you seem to be your usual, bubbly self, even if you’re refusing to tell him why you’re out so late to begin with. but still… his overprotective streak has been going strong for nearly two decades, and he won’t feel satisfied until you’re in the passenger seat of his car, buckled in and safe.

the bar is as sleazy as it sounded over the phone—drunk people hanging around outside smoking, the thump of the base-heavy music rattling outside, flashes of lights streaming through the frosted windows. definitely not your typical scene. but then again, this entire night isn’t very typical for you. you have never been one to drink excessively, let alone at bar you’ve never been to before, so to have to navigate through an intoxicated crowd to find you is something shouei doesn’t have much experience in. a few faces flicker with blurry recognition, and shouei ducks out of their line of sight before a conversation he really doesn’t feel like having begins.

shouei’s irritation level does significantly decrease when he finally spots you sitting at a table all by yourself, water bottle halfway emptied, your brow furrowed in a way that lets him know your thoughts are heavy. the outfit you’re wearing suggests you had intentions of someone seeing you in it, rather than sulking at a bar surrounded by strangers too drunk to recognize their own reflection. acidic jealously churns shouei’s stomach, ugly green and caustic and deadly to nearby organs. he tries his best to ignore it. now isn’t the time for his ego. his top priority is getting you out of this sorry excuse of a bar and to safety.

the way your eyes light up upon seeing him make his guts churn even more for an entirely different reason.

“shou-kun.” you breathe out his name like a sigh of relief, like even just saying it brings you comfort. this time, his heart flutters, and it irritates him even more.

your name rolls off his tongue gruffly, and he’s reaching over to pull you near him. “what are you doing here?” he asks over the loud music as he acts as a shield through the crowd of intoxicated partygoers. “do you know what time it is?”

your hand reflexively wraps around his, and it’s almost like you’re kids again—shouei acting as your personal bodyguard as you allow him to pull you along through anything. he’s always been so good at protecting you. two decades later, and his promise is still in tact. shouei might be the most stable thing in your life, and that thought alone has tears springing up to your eyes. you continue on, gaze glued to your intertwined hands and how shouei holds yours as if it’s something precious to him, as if it’s worth the patience he’s always showing you.

the night air is crisp and fresh compared to the damp, alcohol-soaked air of the club, and it helps sober you up enough to realize you’re more than likely going to vomit tonight. wonderful.

shouei gets you buckled into the passenger seat of his car, ruby gaze scanning your body to make sure you’re fastened up to par with his impossible standards, fingers fiddling with the seatbelt.

you put your hand over his, and when his eyes flicker up to meet yours, the heaviness of them nearly knock the wind out of you. “shou-kun, i’m all buckled in. can we go home now?” your voice is barely above a whisper, and that only makes his brow furrow. he shuts the passenger door and makes his way over to the driver’s side nonetheless, and begins the drive back to his apartment.

home for him is different from home for you. home for him is a humble two-bedroom apartment located downtown, one room dedicated to workout equipment to keep him in shape during his off season without the hassle of a public gym, the other room is master bedroom that no one but him have really laid eyes on. and for you, home is shouei, and not the four-bedroom house you found on craig’s list filled with strangers.

which is why he knows to drive to his apartment with no questions asked. like hell he’s going to trust your housemates to take care of you.

“what were you doing there?” he asks after the silence between you two stretches on for too long.

you’re resting your forehead against the cool window glass to help ease the throbbing behind your eyes. “date blew me off, so i went to the nearest bar.”

he knew it. taut skin stretches over his knuckles as his grip on the steering wheel tightens. “yeah, well, they’re a fucking idiot for ditching you. and you’re an idiot for getting so drunk without anyone there with you.”

“‘m sorry.”

“you’re gonna be more sorry tomorrow when you wake up with a killer hangover.”

the rest of the car ride is quiet, save for the music you decide to flip on to drown out your self-loathing thoughts. shouei isn’t much of a music person, but he is thankful for gorillaz for keeping his mind too busy to think about what sort of person you were dressed up for. it must still be on your playlist. you’re the only person who really gets in his car, after all, save for his sisters whenever they need a ride from him. but even they don’t get radio privileges. that’s saved solely for you.

while 2d goes on singing about rhinestone eyes, you watch the way the street lights flicker over shouei’s face. his hair is down, a rare sight but a welcomed one, and the bags under his eyes are more prominent than usual, indicating he really did fly out of bed to come swooping you away like some knight in jeans and a turtleneck sweater. his jaw ticks, and you wish you could kiss it.

“you okay?” he asks you, pulls you out of your drunken-trance.

you hum a response, and press your forehead against the glass once again, eyes closed but the image of kissing shouei’s jaw still plays behind them.

the car comes to a gentle stop before you can doze off, and shouei is climbing out of the driver seat to open your door and help you out. he’s careful to tap on the glass to rouse you, and when you slowly blink your eyes open to look up at him, his lungs seizes in his chest and his feet are glued to the cement. though you’re very obviously drunk, unbridled trust and love is written openly all over your face in a way that makes the world feels a little wobbly. your eyes are still on him as you unbuckle yourself, and shouei thinks his heart might just explode in between his ribs, the ribbons of it hanging off of the latter on bones and fluttering down to his intestines. he moves out of your way to allow you to open the car door, but he’s quick to grab your elbow to stabilize you as you sway a bit.

“i’ve got you,” he murmurs, and your smile is nothing short of a sun. he fears he may go blind if he isn’t careful. he isn’t sure if he cares, since he’s always wanted your smile to be the last thing he sees anyway.

when walking proves to be a difficult task for you, shouei scoops you up bridal style, and it’s unfair how natural it all feels to him. taking care of you, muttering words of encouragement, feeling you tucked under his chin and curled into his chest, all while you’re dressed to meet someone else. someone that was probably easier to digest than shouei, less egotistical, home often enough to establish a day-to-day routine with you. someone that you don’t have to warn your other friends about preemptively.

shouei has never worried about what other people think of him, can’t find it in himself to feel insecure. a king doesn’t bother himself with a peasant’s thoughts. he does, however, worry about where he fits in your life now that he’s a pro athlete and you’re still trying to find your footing. no one can ever replace him, he knows this. there will always be a spot for shouei in your life. how big that spot is, is what sometimes keeps him up at night, especially now that’s he’s recently come to terms with the fact that he’s in love with you. has been for the last two decades.

light snores leave your mouth as shouei places you down on his bed, trash can set up for when you inevitably vomit, and he’s just beginning to take off your shoes when you begin to stir again.

“go back to sleep,” he gently commands. “you’re going to feel awful in the morning.”

you pout at him. “room’s spinning.”

“i know. that’s why there’s a garbage can next to you.”

“oh thank god—”

and before he can get your other shoe off, you’re leaning over the side of the bed and emptying the contents of your stomach into the bin. shouei moves to rub your back soothingly, nose scrunched as you retch. once your head pops back up, shouei rearranges the pillows and blankets so you’re tucked in snugly, careful to not move you around too much and risk upsetting your stomach again. he stops when he feels your hand resting on his cheek.

“you’re a good man, shou-kun,” you state with a dopey smile on your face. “always taking care of me. even when i probably don’t deserve it.”

“don’t start that self-pity bullshit now,” he replies gruffly, but his eyes a soft pools of ruby. he’s always been soft for you. always will be. “i made you a promise, didn’t i?”

“yeah, when we were seven.”

“and that hasn’t changed. i’m still here.”

your thumb moves from the apple of his cheek to his bottom lip, languidly tracing it, tugging it down to see the teeth that he takes such good care of despite how much his career threatens to knock them out, rows of ivory encased by pretty pink gums. and shouei allows you to, ruby gaze boring into you, trying to gauge where the boundary line is and how solid it is. he would never, ever take advantage of anyone in this state, especially not you, but he does wonder if alcohol has made you uncover some dormant feelings. if you’re thinking about kissing him the very same way he’s been thinking about kissing you ever since your second year of middle school when he watched you punch a boy for calling him a jerk. only shouei would find such an act of violence romantic. everything between you two started with a punch, after all.

“‘s not fair,” you pout, thumb resting on the corner of his mouth.

“what isn’t?”

you purse your lips, as if trying to find the right words. “you’re so pretty. when did you get so pretty?”

he rolls his eyes. “i look the same as i always have. just taller.”

“mm, no.” your other hand comes up to brush his hair back, and his lungs swell until they’re pressing against his ribs. “you’re pretty, shou-kun. and kind. and sweet. and stubborn. and ambitious. and hardworking. so why?”

“why what?”

“why aren’t you with anyone?” when your eyes fall back down to his, shouei feels his chest crack, his heart flayed open and put on display, a pathetic art piece dedicated to you. the world tilts on its axis, and shouei barou has never felt more exposed than he does now under your drunken gaze and steady hands.

he finds his voice long enough to reply, “i don’t care about dating. too much drama and no one knows what they want.”

“do you know what you want?”

you. the answer is on the tip of his tongue, burning a hole through the muscle and burying itself in his enamel, where it will get swallowed down along with the lump in his throat. this isn’t the time to go around confessing, not when you’re drunk and still wearing clothes you put on for someone else. gently, he takes your hands off of him and lowers your body down against the mattress again, and he thinks he feels his heart crumble a little.

“i want you to get some sleep. it’s late as hell, and you have a hangover to prep for.”

and before you can protest, he makes a break for the kitchen to get a glass of water and some tylenol for you. it’s easier to breathe out here where he doesn’t have to choke on long overdue confessions and your perfume. where you aren’t looking at him as if you know just how stupidly in love he is with you. god, he really is pathetic for you. his skin is still warm from where your hands were and all he can think about is how much he wishes you were sober so he wouldn’t feel so guilty for wanting to kiss you.

“the glass is overflowing.”

he nearly jumps out of his own skin at your voice, and whips around to see you standing barefoot in his kitchen, one of his shirts draped over your frame, a pair of his boxers low on your hips. it’s unfair how much better you look in his clothes than your own. hell, you look better than he does in his own clothes. un-fucking-fair.

“what the hell are you doing out of bed?” he barks as he turns the sink off, flustered and unsure of himself. a deadly combination for a man of his caliber. “and when did you change?”

“you were taking forever,” you whine, and tug at the hem of his shirt to pull it further down your thighs. “got bored waiting for you.”

with the water and tylenol in hand, he ushers you back to his room and gets you tucked back in. “you should be asleep. c’mon, it’s late. take these when you wake up and puke in the bin if you need to. i’ll take care of it in the morning.”

but before he can leave his room to sleep on the couch, you’re fisting the back of his shirt and rooting him in place. he waits, as he always does. as he always will. for you.

“sleep with me?” you ask, and chuckle when you feel his breath hitch. “not like that, pervert. like we used to. when we were kids.”

“i’m not a pervert,” he grumbles as he turns around to face you. you’re looking up at him, earnest and hopeful, and he feels his resolve crumble. “let me change into pajamas first.” the smile you flash at him is enough to reaffirm his belief that everything ounce of his yearning and pining is worth it if you just keep smiling at him like that.

once he emerges from the bathroom in his pajamas, you open your arms up to him, bottom lip jutting out in a way that makes him want to bite it. he crawls in bed next to you instead, teeth tucked firmly behind his lips, and you wrap yourself around him like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

cuddling with you now is different than when you were kids. for one, he wasn’t pathetically in love with you back then. and two, there’s an undertone to it, a slow lulling of temptation, an unspoken promise that things could always be like this if maybe you returned his feelings. the payoff might be worth the risk. but could he really put the friendship he’s cherished for two decades on the line for his own selfish desires of having you as a partner? it’s the same haunting thought-loop he’s been in for the better part of nine years, and though he isn’t one to dwell or drown in self-pity, you’re the one thing he doesn’t want to risk. and so he lays in bed next to you, your body curled around his, wondering if spending the rest of his life pining for you is a privilege or a curse.

“why didn’t you kiss me?”

your question breaks the silence between you two into a million tiny slivers, each one stabbing at his heart and lungs, lacerating them to bloody ribbons. he doesn’t dare turn to face you, doesn’t want to see what sort of expression is on your face. he’s never been a coward before, but he’s also never been in love before, and they don’t seem to be mutually exclusive things.

finally, he finds his voice buried somewhere under the gore of sliced up potential. “you’re drunk.” it’s barely above a whisper. it’s all he’ll allow himself for now.

“so? i saw that look in your eyes, shouei barou.” he feels you shift behind him, feels your breath fan across the shell of his ear as you tuck your chin next to his shoulder. “you wanted to kiss me.”

it’s a hefty accusation, one heavy with the painful truth that he’s been wanting to kiss you for far longer than just tonight. he turns his head so he can look at you out of the corner of his eye, and is shocked to see you pouting as if you’re disappointed. disappointed that he didn’t kiss you. disappointed he took the chivalrous route rather than the selfish one. two decades later, and you still surprise him.

“so what if i did?” he asks, turning his face back so his gaze is to his plain wall and not the pout on your face. there’s no use in denying it. you’re going to find out one way or another. “i’m not kissing you while you’re drunk. ‘s not right. you deserve better than that.”

“will you kiss me when i’m sober tomorrow?” the hope in your voice is thick, causes him to feel giddy in a way that’s borderline irritating.

“if you want me to, then sure.”

you hum and bury your face in between his shoulder blades, and he melts a little in your arms. “i’ll want you to.”

“how are you so confident?” he huffs and adjusts his body so it’s easier for you to wrap yourself around him. you respond by throwing a leg over his waist, and everything is alright in the world for a moment. “you’re drunk out of your mind.”

you scoot closer to him. “because i’ve been wanting you to kiss me for a long time.”

the confession has his heart seizing in his chest. and though a part of him is screaming at him to not take your intoxicated words seriously, a caged sort of optimism roots itself in his bones, blooms between his joints. he turns his body so your head is tucked under this chest, leg still wrapped around his waist, and his nose is buried in your hair, the smell of your shampoo infiltrating his lungs until it’s all he can think about. he’s okay with this, he thinks. he wants this, in a very selfish way. it might be worth the risk.

“we’ll see how you feel when you’re hungover as all hell,” is what he says instead.

“i think it’ll make me want you to kiss me more,” you giggle against his chest. “my knight in shining armor. always making everything better.”

his fingers find your hair as they often do when you’re snuggled into each other like this, chest to chest, heartbeat to heartbeat. your knight in shining armor. it’s cheesy in a way that’s almost endearing, most certainly because it’s you and almost everything about you is endearing to him. it’s a role he’s proudly filled for the last two decades, and will continue to fill as long as you need him to.

“goodnight, shou-kun,” you murmur. “thank you for taking care of me tonight.”

he hums his reply and pulls you a little closer to him.

because he’ll always keep his promise. always.

[thesovereignsring-if]

The Empress is dead. The Throne is free for the taking.

Demo: Prologue 2 Part 1 (08/17/24)

EDIT: IF YOU PLAYED THE GAME BEFORE AUGUST 17 2024 YOU WILL NEED TO START A NEW SAVE.

The Sovereign's Ring is an 18+ dark fantasy game filled with drama and romance.

When the Empress dies without issue, you play as the youngest out of four possible successors to the throne.

Civil war is on the horizon. The other successors will stake their claim- but you’re the one who’s in possession of the Imperial Signet Ring, the sole symbol of the Sovereign’s authority and a relic of great mystery.

Choose your loyalties. Build relationships- or don’t. Tear them apart. Sabotage your rivals and pave the path to the throne for yourself. The choice is yours to make.

There are no right or wrong choices- only consequences.

CONTENT WARNING: The Sovereign's Ring is intended for an 18+ audience. The Sovereign’s Ring contains disturbing/dark subject matter that is not for everyone, such as graphic depictions of violence, gore, death, trauma, sexism, racism, poverty, misogyny, sexual assault/violence, child abuse/grooming, suicide, depression, alcohol more.

LINKS:

✦ Itch

✦ Ko-fi

✦ Patreon

✦Pintrest

Features:

✦ Choose the heir you wish to be, customize your name, gender, sex, sexual orientation and appearance. ✦ Choose between one of three backgrounds: Warfare (Soldier), Academic (Scholar) or Politics (Diplomat) ✦ An alignment system: Follow the code of law or follow your own. Decide the future- the Empire you wish to see and the ruler that sits at the top. ✦ Build or break your relationship with your older brothers. Help them realize their goals- or don’t. There is no way to make everyone happy ✦ Romance one of four love interests(and maybe a few secret controversial one(s))…or pine for unrequited love.

(Ages as of Chapter 1)

Duke Alberich Nibel Vagnyr | He/him | 26 | Male

Alberich is your eldest brother, who raised you after the death of your parents. He's an astute and charming politician. You love each other dearly. Despite knowing him all your life, you can never tell where his true ambitions and intentions lie.

Sir Sieghardt Nibel Vagnyr | He/him | 25 | Male

Sieghardt is your second brother and Captain of the Nibelhiem Heath Knights. Unlike Alberich, Sieghardt is a like ghost, often occupying the shadows in your memory. He’s a quiet and stoic person, but is loyal to your brother Alberich above all else. There is a weight he carries with him that no one knows. 

Eirik Nibel Neaera | He/Him | 23 | Male

Eirik is your only cousin, the son of your Father's twin brother. He still holds your family responsible for the death of his father and will do anything to avenge him. He's arrogant and hot-headed, but he's also resourceful. Despite being a jerk, he inspires great loyalty in the people who follow him.

Sir Griffin (Finn) Brynhildr | He/him | 19 | Male

A young boy from your childhood. He was a good friend- maybe even your first love, but you two have drifted apart over the years. Now he's a Nibelhiem Heath Knight and heir to a Great House. His passion is second to none and charges into every situation with enthusiastic sincerity- sometimes to his own disadvantage.  He hates Sieghardt with every fibre of his being.

Lady Linnet Brynhildr | She/Her | 24 | Female

Linnet is Finn's older sister and childhood friend of your older brothers. She's a part of the renowned Shield Maidens and harbors a flame for Sieghardt, but due to her family's ambitions, nothing becomes of it. Above all else, she wishes to serve her country and fulfill her duties- but must it come at the cost of her own happiness?

Prince Thea ana' Isadora Brigid | She/her | 18 | Female

A young Prince from the neighboring country of Brigid. Thea is one of seven children in line for the throne. She was a good friend and pen pal- maybe even your first love, but she stopped answering your letters one day. Her short stature and demure demeanor causes most people to underestimate her crafty nature.

Medea | She/Her | ??? | Female

The Wizard Rothbart's assistant. She's a woman of many questions and little answers. A flirtatious and beautiful woman, who is easy to like, but hard to trust. There’s something about her sincerity that makes you uneasy. Her smiles never truly meet her eyes.

Helios | He/They | ??? | ???

Helios is a great sorcerer of unknown origins with great knowledge of the occult and the Wastes. Aside from that, no one knows who the fuck this person is.

[merakiui]

Just thought about this the other day for the apocalypse au! Say the leaders succumb to the virus and have to be disposed of for the safety of their communities or pass away of other means. But! There’s a law stating that, in the event a leader passes away, the second in command or the next highest ranking officer has the option of taking on the newly widowed wife as their own along with any children they already had with their predecessor. Or as a means of uniting two communities in a time of desperation for new leadership, the widow is arranged to marry the leader or higher ranking member of a neighboring community. Ooor if the new leader is already married or doesn’t feel comfortable with taking on the former wife of their colleague, they can arrange a marriage between her and a suitor they deem competent and loving enough to care for them and choose a new bride from the existing bachelorettes in the community so they can uphold the reproductive responsibilities of leadership. Looking at you Lilia! Sooo much potential for murder plots, schemes, and power imbalance!

Just a thought of mine! Feel free to add and take away! This is among one of my favorite aus of yours and I wanted to bring it back around!

AAAA YES YES!!!! Apocalypse au is so back!! This is brilliant!!! :O it's a scramble to find an eligible husband for the widowed wife because of so many reasons. Women are essential to the compounds; if one's all alone, who knows what might happen!! >_< but also,, you're a great bargaining chip for the compounds in need of more women or have a low birth rate or, as mentioned, to unite compounds and communities that might not have the best relations.

There is so much potential for dirty tricks and evil schemes and murder!!!! AAAA imagine second-in-command who has been pining for the leader's wife for as long as they can remember, and now the leader position is conveniently open and you're in need of a husband to look after you, breed you, care for the children. :) desperate times call for the most desperate and morally questionable measures, after all. And you suspect something isn't quite right, but who can you go to with your theories when no one's willing to listen or believe you? Your new husband gets away with murder and is allowed to keep a pretty wife like yourself. A win-win for him and a terrible loss for you.

[myremnantarmy]

𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,

they gathered together, and one of them,

a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

He said to him,

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."

[enchantedlandcoffee]

Hey guys! Happy 28th! As I couldn't do a december fic rec list, I thought I'd merge them into one so this will be a big one :)

---

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

"Are there any gays in here?" by @red-pandaaa | red_panda28

Explicit | 7.9k | Strangers to Lovers Or, Louis is fed up with meaningless hook-ups, Harry happened to visit Starbucks on a Wednesday, and Clifford is the best

You smile all the time ('cause how can you not show it)? by @thebreadvansstuff | thebreadvan

Explicit | 9.5k | Dentist Louis Or, Harry never liked dentists, until now.

Blue Moon by @aquietlarrie

Explicit | 152.9k | Alternate Universe - 1950s it’s the late 50’s. times are ‘simple’. rock n roll is in full swing. vinyl, music and dancing are the primary ways of entertaining yourself, and in a time where loving someone of the same sex is illegal, two strangers catch each other’s eyes across a dancefloor and do just that. over the span of a year and in between two cities, harry and louis happen to find each other at just the right time. through a hot and heavy summer and a bitter winter, their journey is one of self; self discovery, self-acceptance and self love. this is a story of navigating sexuality in a time where man and woman are the only accepted forms of love by law, where learning to hide your love for someone becomes a matter of survival and safety. a story where above everything, they stick together and weather the storm. its hard, incredibly hard, but no matter the road, it's one worth taking

Tangled in your love and light by @likelarryfics | likelarry

Explicit | 95k | Kid Fic, Alpha Louis Tomlinson, Omega Harry Styles Harry doesn't have time for romance or finding an Alpha between balancing work, studying and looking after his daughter, Bella. Enter Louis Tomlinson who's a romantic sweet Alpha, determined to win the omegas heart and turns Harry's whole world upside down, making him question everything he's ever wanted and known.

Lost Cat, Found Love by @wemadethishome

General Audiences | 4.5k | Established Zayn Malik/Liam Payne, Mild Hurt/Comfort Louis hates cats. But when his neighbor's cat goes missing, he finds himself much more dedicated to finding the thing than he ever wanted to be.

The Wind It Held Us Up by @itsnotreal | hazzahtomlinson

Explicit | 14k | Alien Harry Styles, Scientist Louis Tomlinson Or Louis had a feeling there was life on other planets, he just hadn't expected to meet someone from one.

now i know what a fool i've been by @28goldens | 28goldensfics

Teen and Up Audiences | 16.8k | Enemies to Lovers, Christmas Fluff harry and louis had one really bad date last year. now they're snowed in at zayn's family's cabin alone the days leading up to christmas and louis' birthday. can they make up or will this be their last christmas together?

come as you are by @stylinsoncity

Mature | Alternate Universe - Academia, Professor Louis, Student Harry louis is a professor of literature at oxford and harry is his newest and most eager protege. both are caught in a story about forbidden love, loss and second chances, in which one is on the brink of heartbreak and the other comes along when he's needed most.

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by @kingsofeverything

Explicit | 109k | Cheating, Older Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Alternate Universe - Beach, Meet-Cute Louis' life is steady and calm, moored by his marriage, and tied to his hometown, but after a chance encounter with another man, it'll never be the same.

Have Love, Will Travel by @kingsofeverything

Explicit | 97k | Camping, Friends to Lovers, Video Cameras Rather than spend the summer working at their desks, Louis and Harry are given the opportunity to crisscross the country together in a tiny camper, filming their adventures for a YouTube series. It soon becomes obvious to their viewers that there's something more than friendship between them. Eventually, they figure it out.

Probably still adore you (with your hands around my neck) by @lunarheslwt

Explicit | 13k | Persephone x Hades AU, Louis Tomlinson as Hades, Harry Styles as Persephone Or, after six cruel months of being separated, Persephone!Harry returns to his husband, Hades!Louis.

The Money Mark by @brightgolden

Explicit | 52k | Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Sugar Baby Harry Styles Or, where Louis is Harry's first sugar daddy who dumped him over text and their paths cross, seven years later.

Just You and I (a starry sky) by @justanothershadeofblue

Explicit | 7k | Christmas Fluff, Mpreg, Friends to Lovers "getting accidentally pregnant by his childhood best friend-with-benefits" was definitely not on Harry Styles' holiday to-do list - but apparently it's what has happened, so now he has to figure out how to tell Louis without ruining Louis' birthday, their family holiday, oh, and literally everything else about their lives. Oops?

kay's 25 days of smutmas series by shiptattou | @wecantalktomorrow

---

Niall Horan/Zayn Malik

If You Leave Me by @hellolovers13

Explicit | 5k | Alternate Universe - Vampire Niall spends too much time in his own head, almost breaking his (and Zayn's) heart in the process.

[happyely2]

Pairing: Portuguese D. Ace x Fem!Reader

Rating: It will vary from story to story and I will point it out at the time (green-for-all; orange-for a mature audience; red-for adults, minors are asked to skip this story).

General Summary: Ten Different Alternative Universes In which you will experience an extraordinary adventure with Ace (plots and more details are written under the respective title). Soon they will be published one by one, for now I leave the plots in general.

General Inspired: I will write from time to time the possible inspirations that have been taken as references to write.

Let’s Meet Agian In The Next Life

[📿Exorcism!AU📿] - The spirit of the red fire

You’ve been called in to exorcise a demon that’s causing a lot of trouble for the community in a quiet country village, so you don’t expect that curse to give you such a hard time.

[📚School!AU📚] - Breaktime at school

Ace is the most popular guy in high school, he’s a senior, and he’s going to college soon, so you don’t expect him to know who you are, a little third-year-old girl who’s doing very well in school. You don’t know how wrong you are.

[👑Royalty!AU👑] - Midnight Ball

You didn’t object when the mystery knight gave you his hand to go down the garden stairs, it was your last night of freedom before you had to marry someone you hardly knew. A moonlight dance before you become the wife of the future king of the kingdom with a mysterious knight you would love in silence for years to come.

[✨PeterPan!AU✨] - Lost Girl in Neverland

Second star right and then straight until morning! But wait for the lost children are not so children but they are teenagers!? Fairies and mermaids are friendly? Indians are a rowdy group of adults who want to dance all night and pirates are not real pirates but admirals of the navy? What kind of island are you in, and since Peter Pan has freckles and black hair and calls himself Ace?

[🔮Magic!AU🔮] - Rebel

Ace never thought he’d have to ask you, a witch, for help to save his family. But he is a warrior who is willing to do anything to save the people he loves, even to come to terms with a witch like you.

[🐺Omegaverse!AU🐺] - Damn to that beta

The biggest cliché in the world? You made it happen. You always considered yourself a beta with little sex craving and always squabbling with her beta neighbor. So you don’t expect that the day you go for the analysis something snaps in you and that you’re both soul mates. In short! You can’t be the soul mate of your neighbor Beta (actually Alpha) Ace! And you can’t be his Omega.

[🏹Indian!AU🏹] - The arrow of fate

Travel to the new world! Gold, riches, adventures and new lands to explore! That’s what they promised, but now Ace was wondering how he could explain that those were really fake things and that the only thing that drew gold were the hair of a certain Indian who had snatched his heart?

[⚔️Moschettieres!AU⚔️] - Damsel in distress

"And you call that a lunge?" You shouted behind the back of the man who was fighting to protect you.

"Then fight you mademoiselles!" The Musketeer answered you by stretching out the enemy that was attacking you and taking you for life to take away. What was all that effrontery towards the poor Musketeer Ace who was fighting to save you at the behest of his majesty!

"With great pleasure!" You answered by beating your fists on his shoulder. There were no bridesmaids anymore.

[🚓Police!AU🚓] - Cat Burglar

Ace had just joined the police force when he was given a very important case by Commissioner Smoker. Catch a famous thief who always announces her shots before getting them. I mean, it seems easy, but nobody on the police force has ever done it. And the policeman Ace will have to invent one more than the devil to succeed in catching tha

[💰Far West!AU💰] - The Naked Gun

There is only one law in the bar: no fighting is allowed and as a bartender you are categorical, your rifle is ready to fire a warning shot at anyone who dares even think of trying. You just haven’t met the outlaw Portuguese D. Ace and his wacky gang of bandits.

[prismatoxic]

i was struck with inspiration, as tends to happen, and wrote a quick oneshot about matt. it's another second person character study, like the one i did with felix a while ago.

matt doesn't talk about his past in depth. not really. it's easy to find the legends and myths of his old cults, track the path of the godking across time. that's surely more than enough.

but he wasn't always the godking. for a while, after he was banished from his home, he wasn't anybody at all.

-----

You do not belong here.

This world calls to you, its presence familiar and foreign, strength and weakness in equal measure. There are beings here just as immortal as you. Yet when you land on the earth like a meteor from the heavens, you find yourself writhing, twisting, aching. Unwelcome. This is not home, nor is it the cosmos. It is something else, something visceral, something real. It clashes against the very fabric of your being.

You do not regret. You have no remorse. You did what you felt was necessary, and your banishment was a price worth paying. They will remember you as long as the universe draws breath. Even so, for all this was something you knew would happen wherever you went, it draws such horrible things from you. Not regret, no. Pain. Rage. Fear.

You find a beast and enter its body, devour it from within. Its soul teaches you about the way the world feels, how to navigate it, how to survive. Your essence is too large for its form. You burst out of it in new limbs, greater mass, a gaping maw and gnashing teeth far greater than what it had before. Terrified, furious, lost and alone, you do what you do best: you consume.

They are such fragile things. Not like the beast you became, no. They are like you: the apex entities of their world, those who control, who rule, who become. Yet they are nothing like you, for their bodies break in your jaws like glass, blood and viscera squeezed out from beneath delicate bones that cannot withstand your countless teeth.

You learn nothing from this. It isn't the same as eating from within. Nothing is imparted to you but the taste of their flesh, the weight of their organs. You do not belong here, and the laws of this world are alien to you. The carnage does not stop until a whole village is naught but blood at your feet.

You exit the beast. Its form cannot survive without a host and falls apart under the weight of the changes you made. You leave it far behind, sweeping over vast swaths of land and sea, searching. For what? You have no idea. Much like you knew this world when you found it, surely you will know your new life when you find it.

A lone body. A fragile soul. You slither inside and swallow everything within, and this time you learn things. So much more than the beast knew. You learn language. You learn culture. You learn song and dance and love and loss. You are overwhelmed, and once more your essence is too large for this vessel. You bleed out in scales and feathers and rows and rows of teeth, and that is how the vessel's people find you.

You are afraid, and you are alone. You sink your teeth into one of them and hold on with intent to crush, to kill. What is it that they see in you? They free their companion—your body is small, and you don't know how to exert your full strength from within it—but they do not seem to resent you. You kneel trembling in desert sands with teeth bared and they offer you things: fruits, carvings, animals, clothes. You begin to calm down. They think you're something else… something divine.

They think you're a messenger from their God.

The one you bit claims it's a sign of favor. You observe their bodies, their dialect, and with the vessel's memories safely in your grasp, you reel the edges of your essence into a more compact shape. You become human. The people celebrate the return of their neighbor, and you feed them lies that align with what they believe: you were inhabited by their God. Perhaps now you even speak for Him. They believe you without question, and you are crowned a prophet, a voice for their God to speak to them with. If this God truly exists, you're not sure how to find Him, but you're not particularly worried. You can be their God.

It feels good, you think. To be respected. If only this was what they'd given you back home.

Things are not always easy. Sometimes you are still too vast for your vessel. The fear and fury seep out through the cracks again, and you become larger than this consciousness can contain. These events are seen as visitations from a being beyond their knowing. That works in your favor until it doesn't, until the village is naught but blood at your feet. You leave your vessel behind.

You don't belong here. You don't know how to be them. You find the others, the not-humans in the shadows of human societies, but you don't know how to be them either. They fear you, can smell you from miles away and avoid you outright whenever possible. They have power, control over this world that you don't understand, but it's beyond you to grasp. That leaves you with the humans. They are the core of this world, its heart and lungs and spine. They are the foundation of all you need to know.

Your first vessel's memories take so long to fully bleed away. By the time they do, you've taken on another. You'll do better this time. More clean. Efficient. You'll drink in their worship and learn their world, fulfill your own need to be respected and valued. Your desire to be important. As their God you are their everything, and they throw their lives at your feet… sometimes literally. You begin to gain a real taste for their flesh.

You grow bored. Restless. You devour too many of them and leave in the dead of night, vessel broken like the rest. In no time at all you find another to become. You crave it, now, this being, this existence of blood and bone. This one, however, when you devour it from within… This one gives you new things. Things that had been white noise in the vessels before but are now too loud to ignore. The vessel is married, a wife expecting child. She is shocked by how forward you are. How insistent. His desire courses through you, unchecked and uncontested, and you learn pleasures of the flesh firsthand. The wife bores you, however. She is sacrificed to the God—you, of course, but obviously you're only a prophet—and with newfound freedom you take several lovers before picking one who pleases you most.

The actions of your people gain notoriety in ways they haven't before. There is a ruler here who claims to supersede you, a king and his vast army. Something stirs within you as you are informed of your treason. A being higher than you? Higher than a God? No. No, that isn't allowed. No longer will you be beneath anyone.

You devour the soldiers. All of them. With energy overflowing from your essence, you warp your vessel into something horrible, something violent and ugly, something beyond your people's comprehension. You storm the capital by yourself, and with a rapt audience screaming at your feet you tear the king's throat out with your teeth. There is no king, now. There is only you. Only their new God.

Their Godking.

Yes. You love that. You love the power of it, the weight, the presence. You, a winding serpent, a canopy of stars, a glutton and a traitor… you are the Godking. You are all that there is and all that there can be. The highest authority, the greatest being.

You do not know how to rule a kingdom. It falls to ruin, and you leave, none the worse for wear. You have an identity now.

That's where the routine begins. You become a prophet, forming a cult around the Godking. You take lovers, often choosing one to be your closest companion. You toy with their lives, their hearts, taking what you please and devouring them as you see fit—the Godking requires human sacrifice, after all—and all the while they worship you to the detriment of all else. Dissenters are made an example of. Would-be assassins are consumed. No one knows the truth, and any who get close are too afraid to look further.

When is it that it grows dull?

You know you don't belong here. You never have, and you never will. You cannot go home and you do not wish to leave, but you don't belong here. No matter how many people you become, that will always remain true. You are the Godking now, but that in and of itself is just as alien a concept as you truly are. And underneath it all…

Who are you, exactly? The serpent feels so far away, and the canopy of stars is even farther. Frustrated, afraid, you begin to give your followers the name of the Godking, but their throats cannot make the sounds. You show them how it looks and their runes are crude approximations of the images it should be. They translate it into their languages, but it's never right. It's never you.

Who are you?

A thousand lives, a million eyes reflected back at you across eons untold. You have been everyone and you have been no one. You have been countless different people, but you've only ever been you. Or is it that you've only ever been the Godking? Who are you?

Are you anybody?

Have you ever been?

Can you be somebody without a name?

Does the one you gave yourself count?

Does any of it matter?

You drift. You devour. You live, and you exist. You escape the confines of time and progress in the deepest depths of the sea, calmed by the tides. You emerge again to start anew. A new cult, but the same story. The same Godking. The same you?

The call surprises you. An invocation of the runes you tied to your name. Were you not in the area, you'd never have heard it, but you were and you did and you answer it on a whim. There is no cult this time. There is a plea of the Godking, yes, but when you elect to respond in that name, it isn't a new religion you thrust yourself into. You agree to help a company prosper, and the man who begs for your aid falls apart when you tell him to. His body doesn't interest you. His son, however, feels just right.

It's new. It's different. You adopt the boy's mannerisms as well as you ever do, but you do not use this vessel to lead. Not quite. For once, you work from the shadows, allowing the established leaders to believe they still have control. There's a certain thrill to it, really. Having them believe you to be naught but a figurehead when you're puppeting everyone around you. The others are here in great numbers, and you begin to craft your ideas for an ideal takeover using their strengths to your advantage. This is fun.

In the sea of employees, one doesn't stand out until he does. You just barely turn your head to acknowledge his presence when he sends a bullet through your skull. You're no stranger to assassination attempts—if anything, you love them. The fear on his face when you don't stay dead is exactly what you want to see. Yet something about his response strikes you as unusual. In the end, he does not run, even when you give him the chance. He fears you, but not in the way you're used to being feared. You try to break him and find that it only strengthens his resolve.

You've always enjoyed taking on lovers. Special companions. This life may be different, but surely it's fine to keep the parts you like most from all the others. He falls into a dynamic with you easier than any human ever has before, and in no time at all you find yourself swept up into an obsession unlike any you've ever known.

You do not belong here. You never will. Yet the more you let him in, the more you take and demand from each other, the more you begin to feel things you've never thought yourself capable of feeling, you begin to realize something—

He doesn't belong here either.

[herzzgeist]

Hi emi, if the slot isn't taken already , I would love to read about a star gazing date with law.

Where we just talk about everything and nothing. And just share our secrets. A blushing law would be a lovely gift ☺️.

Thx for your writing.

Pairing: Law x gn!reader | Word count: 2.2k | Warnings: Light angst

Synopsis: It's brightness leads him home, his heart yearning to return to the north blue, albeit with grief and sorrow - missing the long lost loved ones. A man of his stature remembers the loneliness he endured. The past bears it's weight, crushing the Surgeon of Death's shoulders, yet you lighten the burden - for you offer him your hand, to be his new home.

A/N: . . AAA is all I can say. Stargazing is a classic! Just wholesome and fluffy. Thank you Anon for requesting this trope, I dearly hope you like it!

Dividers by cafekitsune ~

The stars expand over the dark blue above, enlightening the horizon in the faintest. Not all too far away from the coast, you hear the waves crashing upon the shore.

Salt and algae scents waft your way, mixing up with the soft odors of dew across the meadow. Comfortably lying on the lush green ground, you take a deep breath and close your eyes. It's been a long, straining day - and now you're finally able to turn off the worries and troubles lurking in your mind.

Besides your thoughts calming, your heart is on opposite terms, racing to the fact that you're awaiting a certain man, who should arrive any minute now.

Shifting nervously on the spot, your attempt to find your composure again, turns out to be for naught - coming to notice light footsteps heading your way, which elicits a skip of a beat in your chest.

"At least you could have told me where exactly we'd carry out this silly gesture.", the voice low and agitated, calls out to you and you straighten yourself instantaneously by the familiar tone of none other than the Surgeon of Death.

"Law! Took you long enough." - "Didn't I just tell yo- . . just terrific.", raising a brow at the sighing in aggravation man, it's impossible for you to contain a cheeky giggle. How you love to tease your Captain.

He takes a seat next to you and sets aside his nodachi, his gaze lifting to the skies. He is close, the warmth almost beaming over your whole being. It isn't easy for you to simply shuffle over to Law, wanting to nudge against his arm and lean your head onto his shoulder.

The gentle sounds of crickets coming from the grass and the ocean's tides lull you into a relaxed and content state, yet not to the fullest, for the man on your side is making things rather difficult to cope.

Thus you ask in shyness: "How did the discussion go with the Strawhats?" - "Nothing but a pain in the rear, if only he wouldn't be so reckless and negligent." Law's sound takes a exclusively sour note, indicating you not to tread any further regarding that topic, hence you try and change the subject.

"I heard there's a shop with rarities in the neighboring town. Maybe there's an addition to your coin collection available. We should visit it tomorrow!", is what you hint your Captain, slowly but surely scooting nearer to reduce the, though short, distance. Which were cold and stern just a moment ago, now are mellowed and calmed grey eyes, even only the mildest way noticable.

Law inhales deeply and pushes the air back through his lips in a forceful manner. It is then where you see his tension roll off of him, a small amused huff escaping in the process: "That actually sounds . . delightful." He looks at you from the side for a split second, before returning to look at the ocean of stars again.

The tranquil of this instant pauses as you out your inner child - chiming a rhyme in an almost melodic sense: "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight."

When was the last time Law was so baffled, that he couldn't even remark one's doings with a sassy comment? Perhaps ages ago, until you came along on a fine evening like this, deciding to act all adolescent out of the blue. It's a highly regarded achievement, catching the Surgeon of Death off guard, thus he mumbles: "Never do this ever again." - "What? Didn't you wish upon a star as a kid before?"

Silence. Only grey torn open eyes bore questions into your soul - oh dear. "Wait, don't tell me you don't know what that is?" Still, no answer. With care, you advance into his overly mature mind, giving it a nudge towards infant experience.

"Concentrate on any star in the sky and repeat after me!" - "That's ridiculous.", the Captain doesn't stand a chance against your strong, or rather good will, and after uncountable times of you begging for him to join, he gives in.

Together, you harmonize the rhyme and see to the otherworldly scene above, uncountable stars appearing each minute. "See? Wasn't so hard was it?", you laugh, earning a click of Law's tongue in response.

Driven to see your Captain at least a tad bit happier than now, you take upon a quest of pure risque. You might get kicked out of the crew, but it's totally worth it, is what you think to yourself. So you indulge him with your childhood's secret: "Hey, let me tell you something. When I was little, I used to steal from the merchant stands ALOT."

"Explains your rogue behaviour to this day . .", Law simply huffs in nonchalant, opting you to theatrically gasp and play all appalled and shocked. Even he cannot hold in a small chuckle by the sight of your exaggerated acting, shaking his head.

However, it makes you wonder - what was that supernova like, when he was a boy? Climbing trees, exploring the homeland or play fights with friends? To your knowledge, at least so you heard, as a young one he used to be a talented and eager kid, striving to become a doctor like his father.

He lives up to his own expectations, in your opinion that is. Law's perception, understanding and implementation is ineffable. The devil fruit powers he possesses, granting him abilites to analyse and treat with ease, are his strongest suit - making him one of a kind.

"I bet you were a little rascal just like me!", you banter teasingly, a smirk planting over your lips, awaitingly bouncing on your behind, obviously curious about his reply. Not as intent as you, the doctor sighs: "You could call it that. Kids at school were scared of me. Ask me another question, but I merely dissected frogs and other smaller creatures to study anatomy and-"

Interrupted by your outburst, your laughter entices him to snort along with you, yet furrows his brows in confusion. "What's so funny?" - "I can only imagine what it looked like, you merely holding a dead animal in your hands, presenting it to your screeching in terror friends.", though the pictures in your head seem innocent, they do bear a sad aspect.

Given his reaction, he didn't have many, or even any friends, did he? You only dare to ponder.

Serene atmosphere cradles the both of you, the horizon growing darker and darker by the second. After a while, you decide to break the awkward silence once more, now sitting this close, your arm grazes his: "Did you ever feel . . lonely?" You never waver from the glowing lights, entranced by the tranquil nature and influence.

"Lonely?", uncertain of your sudden approach, Law turns to face you, attentive to meet your gaze. As you finally do, he averts: "I have a crew to attend to, how can I feel lonesome?" - "You're a bad liar, Captain."

Appalled, he gapes at you, his frown about to form into an upturned 'U'. "Are you questioning your superior?" - "It's common sense, almost everyone felt lonely at least once in their lives.", your quick retort takes Law aback, leaving him rather speechless for a moment. So he lies down, crossed arms serving as a cushion on the back of his head to ease the posture.

"Then if you're so sure, what are you asking me for?" - "To show empathy and understanding.", his snappy backtalk gets outranked by an honest answer, a wholesome one to say the least. This he didn't expect, by all means, such pitty isn't in his book, but who is he to deny your kindness - though with difficulty.

He surrenders and gives you a long lasting stare, following your every move as you lay down next to him: "Maybe I was lonely at times. If it weren't for Bepo, Shachi and Penguin . . I couldn't even tell where I would be today."

His deepest thoughts are laid bare, evoking something vulnerable in him. "If you dare share the details of tonight's conversation, I'll see your body parts stuck beside the Tang.", Law's threat incites you, for you end up being quite flustered and scared simultaneously. To your abashment you flail your hands: "N-No don't worry, those lips are sealed."

Those lips - sealed? Why, there is a way to fulfil just that. Either cut them off and throw them into the deepest and darkest pits of the sea or . . put his own on y-

'What am I thinking?' rushes through the Captain's mind, surprised by his own ambiguity. Quick to rid these nefarious ideas, Law enquires back: "Were you feeling . . alone too? At some point of your life?"

"Yes. Many times. Until you asked me to join your crew . . ", you reminisce in your past, images appearing of your former self you now declare as 'dead' - you are not the person you used to be. On the contrary, to this day you are what you deem confident and powerful. All thanks to the Heart pirates, thanks to him.

A deft and low 'oh' rumbles out of Law, as if apologising for not finding you sooner. Humming contently, you assure him, blowing away any upcoming doubts or regrets: "I am glad you took me in. All these years together with you guys, up to no good - solving mysteries, fighting tough battles - it's a thrilling life, which I am honored to take part in.", you turn your head and face him, the gras rustling from the movement, adding, "Thank you for being my safe space . ."

The Surgeon of Death falls silent, haltingly letting his grey orbs hover over to you. It's to his uncertainty, insecurity that he isn't able to utter the words that pile up in his short circuiting brain.

And then there you are. You smile - warmly and with a spark in your eyes that leaves your Captain breathless. Be that as it may, he is strong enough to supress the redness threatening to overcome his cheeks.

Clearing his throat, he catches your attention by pointing at the dark blue, adorned with white specks, in hopes to avoid any further profound subjects. "Will you look at that. See that star formation looking like a pan? That's the big dipper.", he wise-cracks, his finger following the invisible lines and connecting the dots.

"Right above is the little dipper. You should see a bright shining star on it's tail." - "That's the north star, yes?", he continues in a whisper and confirms your query with a little 'correct'. The night's ambience fills your ears, for other creatures like frogs chime in to the musical interlude of late hours. Even an owl hoots it's opinions into the near by woods.

Staring at the brightest of stars, you adjust to the gentle frequences: "Aren't you from the north blue, Captain?" Simultaneously you stare at eachother, him replying your curiosity in swift: "Indeed. It's my-" he stops mid-sentence, reconsidering wether to speak his mind or keep it from you, yet he goes with the initial, "-home."

There is that aura of sorrow and loss looming over the man laying beside you, telling you he suffered and endured things you dare not even think of. Might explain his restless researches for history and endless nights of insomnia consuming every fibre of his being.

You see how his arm, which pointed at the sky, lowers to the ground again, visibly tense. Restricted by your own inner suspense, slightly jittery fingers drift towards his hand.

"(Y/n)-ya, what are you doing?", although not keen on your unannounced touch, your pinkies interlace - Law recognises a familiar sensation of his heart picking up the pace to upbeat.

Well, what are you doing? You're not certain yourself, but it surely feels . . nice. His skin is tender, oddly enough - given the fact his inked hands are in constant straining use and appear rough and calloused.

Still fixated on the north star, you utter: "You know, home isn't a place, it's a person. So," your small finger grips tighter around your Captain's and you shift nearer to him "we have eachother."

You are close. So much so he can feel your breath fanning against his neck. Law grits his teeth in annoyance, however the faint of a blush begins to spread all over his face. Unfortunately, that display is barely visible to you, but you can detect his unease through his nervous shuffles and huffs.

"How much I hate when you're doing that . .", he growls, heaving himself onto his side to look at you properly and . .

. . braids his adorned digits among yours, holding your hand tight "but promise me we'll never be lonely again and find home in one another."

Emotions about to catch onto your lashes, your lips curl slightly, mumbling in reassurance: "I promise. Let the north star be your reminder, that you'll never be alone."

With half lidded eyes, face mellow and hand caressing your wrist, Law dearly hopes for your words to be true.

This night, a man with a heart of a broken boy, wished upon a star, wishing to never lose home, never lose his loved ones.

[scribeforchrist-blog]

Golden Rule

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

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+ Isaiah 41:13 For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you

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VERSE OF THE DAY

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+ Matthew 7:12 Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

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** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM FOLLOWING THE GOLDEN RULE

I AM LISTENING TO CHRIST

I AM READING MY WORD

I AM NOT LOST

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READ TIME: 9 Minutes & 47 Seconds

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THOUGHTS:

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 It's easy to be rude and to treat others wrongly; it's easy to do wrong to others and not think about how this could affect someone else. I had a couple of times where people were cruel to me, and I had others to tell me I would’ve done this or I would’ve done that, but to be honest, I could’ve have , but what good would it be to treat someone the way they treated you.

This was one of the commandments Jesus left us with, and a lot of us don’t do this; we treat others rudely if they treat us rudely; we say ugly things because someone else says ugly things, but this isn’t the way we as believers should be at any time. Sure, we want to treat others ugly, and sure, we want to do things because people are cruel to us, but this is not how we are supposed to handle anything.

 Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

This is said to us again: we must do unto others the way we want them to do to us, we have to stop thinking about ourselves and think about how Jesus would do this it used to be some bracelets that said W.W.J.D  and it said what would Jesus do and I still wear that bracelet today, and when I go to do something wrong I immediately think, and I look down at the bracelet, and I think what would Jesus do, what would he say how would he react and a lot of us don’t take into account those words we just react and instead thinking.

 Leviticus 19:18 18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

   Bitterness can cause us to seek revenge, and at the time, revenge seems reasonable; it seems perfect to be honest to get at people who are cruel to us, but the bible states not to do that but to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and not to seek revenge, a lot of people live their life seeking revenge to harm someone are to get even steven and it’s not right to do this are to seek revenge, I can remember being so focused on seeking revenge on people that I didn’t see how bitter and cold it made me because I was too busy focused on getting what I thought was payback and that’s not how I want someone to treat me I want people to treat me with love. Still, I must give love to receive it.

 1 Timothy 1:15 The aim of our charge is love those issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

  What should be our aim? Is it to love? It should come from a pure heart and a good conscience; that should be our aim for the day I can say that it is tough to show love when other people don’t show it; it is hard to love someone when people are so cruel sometimes for no reason, but the most important thing we must remember is that this is the golden rule this is one commandment Jesus told us about before he left.

 Matthew 7:7: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you

 All this week, we have been studying from the book of Matthew chapter 7. We started in verse 7, and we talked about waiting and knocking; sometimes we must ask Jesus and THEN wait for HIS TIME, and his time doesn’t look like ours; they say God doesn’t have a watch, and he doesn’t his time doesn’t look like ours ,a lot of times we can do everything we feel is right but then we don’t get what we ask. We asked why he hadn’t given it to me. It doesn’t matter what we do; it matters what he wants of us and what he wants us to do and have; sometimes, we forget that his ways aren’t our ways, and his thoughts aren’t our thoughts; we must be careful comparing ourselves to God and comparing our time with his.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works so that no one can boast.10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared us to do.

We talked about change, and sometimes it's hard to change because we try to do it in our strength and not in God, and we lose focus on the importance of change and we don’t see why we need to change; we just see that he's asking us to change and for what reason but as we change our hearts and what we see others as and how we view situations changes, I can say as I grew in God I realize that my life isn’t my own and to truly change I can't boast about. Still, all I can do is trust the process, and many of us don’t trust what God is doing in this season of our lives.

  Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are vicious wolves.

True change is when we start using discernment for difficult situations and not just our thoughts or our emotions; a lot of people use their emotions to figure out what's happening in their lives, but we must start using discernment on the teachers we allow to teach us , and the pastors we allow to pastor our lives the lord wants us to talk to him about things that being said to us and done to us a lot of time we don’t allow him to because we whether have a false teacher to let us think what we are doing is right. We aren’t 2 Timothy 4:3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.

This is what most people want; they want their itchy ears to be scratched, they want people who will tell them their secret sin is okay to have, they want someone to tell them it's okay to read their bible sometime and to pray when they are feeling good. They want people to tell them what they are feeling is right, and I’m here to tell you that God word will tell you what you are doing is wrong; it will pierce your very soul, but if we block the word of God and we don’t read the word of God, we will always think what we are doing is right, and it isn’t.

*** Today, we looked over our week and what we studied. There is so much God has blessed us with to learn, and sometimes it's so much to learn; some things we don’t grasp because it's not our season, but our season could be learning something different. We must always ask God to teach us what he wants us to learn for that day or season. What is the lord telling you in this season? What is the lord trying to get you to see maybe to use more discernment, maybe to trust him more, maybe to let go of the sins you think are okay, but whatever it is, we must trust in God; a lot of us are not trusting because we are scared of what the lord is speaking to us, we can't allow what our flesh wants to do to stop us from connecting with God we can't allow our flesh to continue to rule over our lives because if we continue to live in this way we will always fall short of the glory of God.

   Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.

Certain people will do certain things to lead us astray; we can't allow people to lead us away from what God has in instore for us; a lot of us allow this world to lead us away because it's easier than following God the word never said it would be easy it never said life is going to get easier as we go through it , it says it will be tough. Still, it's easier when we do it in his strength; we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us. If you are struggling, tell God today so he can help you with what you have going on and help you see him through it all.

©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

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PRAYER

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. We ask you to help us hear you when you speak. Lord, we ask you to give us grace and mercy as we go through it; lord, we love you so much and thank you for never leaving or forsaking us. Lord, we love you so much for everything. Lord, help us to use our discernment about false teachers. Lord, give us mercy and grace and a fresh anointing. Lord, help us treat others the way we want to be treated. Lord, we thank you and praise your name in Jesus' Name Amen

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REFERENCES

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 + Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

+ Luke 6:27 But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

+ Matthew 19:19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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FURTHER READINGS

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 Proverbs 23

James 2

1 Corinthians 2

John 21

Acts 16

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[she-is-loved]

jesus doesnt support homosexuality..?

Jesus makes no mention of homosexuality. The only type of sexual immortality He refers to during His ministry is adultery & lust (Matthew 5:27-32) I am not going to reference any verses from the Old Testament as we are no longer bound to it's laws.

The only use of the word "homosexual" is in 1 Corinthians 6:9. The two Greek words that are often translated into homosexual this verse are "arsenokoitē" and "malakos". The word "arsenokoitē" is also used in 1 Timothy. Malakos is a fairly easy word to translate as it's found in multiple times in the bible; it translates to "soft", "meek", or "weakling". This word was often used to describe those who were weak in battle or man who lived very pampered lives. Arsenokoitē is a bit more of a difficult word to translate because it's not found in any other Greek texts. It's very possible that this word was a created by Paul by combining the words "arsén" (male) and “koité” (bed). Through the 16th-20th century, this word was translated to "abusers of themselves with mankind" and "liers with mankind". In the 1940s, arsenokoitē began to be translated to homosexual despite the fact that the word homosexual or anything similar to it didn't exist during biblical times.

There is also Romans 1:26-27 which is a must longer breakdown of the translation that I don't have time for right now (I'll attach a website that breaks down the translation of these two verses)

My final, and most important point, is that Jesus said nothing about homosexuality but He DID say for us to love one another. In Matthew 5: 37-40 He says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Let me know if you have anymore questions. Lots of love and God bless you!

References:

https://www.believeoutloud.com/voices/article/clobbering-biblical-gay-bashing/

https://www.rwuc.org/2020/03/20/arsenokoitai/

https://www.bible.com/bible/59/MAT.5.ESV

[artandthebible]

God Writes for Moses on Mount Sinai the Ten Commandments on Two Stone Tablets

Artist: Joseph von Fuhrich (Austrian, 1800-1876)

Date: 1835

Exodus 31:18 (NIV)

"When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God."

What is the Law of Moses?

Generally speaking, the Law of Moses is the first five books of the Bible, or the Torah (Hebrew for “law”), also called the Pentateuch (Greek for “five books”). More strictly speaking, the Law of Moses refers only to the 600-plus commandments and regulations in the second through fifth books of the Torah. We often refer to the commandments as “the Law of Moses”; of course, they are actually the Law of God. Moses was the one through whom God gave Israel the law.

The foundation of the Law of Moses is the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2–17), as dictated to Moses by God Himself on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 31:18). Yet the “greatest commandment” from the Law of Moses, as Jesus declared, is Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Jesus said the second greatest commandment was like the first; it is found in Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” These two are the greatest because “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40; see also Galatians 5:14 and James 2:8).

The Bible’s first use of the phrase Law of Moses appears after the death of Moses. Joshua, who was with Moses throughout Israel’s forty years in the desert, had just led the nation of Israel into the Promised Land. In obedience to one of Moses’ final commands, he had the Law of Moses written on plastered stones (Deuteronomy 27:4–8) and read in its entirety to all the people, both Israelite and alien (Deuteronomy 31:9–13). Bible scholars differ on how much of the law was inscribed and read by Joshua, but most agree it was not every word of all five books of the Torah. Still, a great deal could be written easily enough on plastered stone, as shown by the use of similar techniques in ancient Egyptian temples and tombs.

[ahopefulbromantic]

Do y'all sometimes think of how that one Pharisee was like: "Soo Rabbi, what's the greatest commandment (that'll get him for sure good luck not messing this one up hehe I'm so smart)?"

Only for Jesus to look him straight in the eye and go: "I love you. I have always loved you. And the only thing I really want is for you to love Me back. And to spread our love to everyone and everything," with a full-on unwavering sincerity? How could a guy collect himself after that?!!

Cause yeah, I think about it a lot

Matthew 22, 35-40:

One of them [the Pharisees], an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

3rd November >> Fr. Martin's Homilies/Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for The Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) (Mark 12:28-33): ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’.

Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel (Except USA) Mark 12:28-34 'You are not far from the kingdom of God'.

One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.

Gospel (USA) Mark 12:28b–34 Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor.

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Homilies (3)

(i) Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

We all like to be complemented from time to time. We may not go looking for compliments but when they come our way we are pleased to get them. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus pays a wonderful compliment to a scribe, an expert in the Jewish Law, a member of a group who were often hostile to Jesus. He says to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God’. It is a compliment we would all like to hear from the Lord. Jesus and this particular scribe were very much on the same wavelength. The answer Jesus gave to the scribe’s question, ‘What is the first of all the commandments?’ is one that the scribe fully agreed with.

The scribe’s question was a very valid one. It was believed that there were more than 600 commandments or regulations in the Jewish Law at the time of Jesus. The scribe wanted to know which of them was the most important, the one commandment on which all the others rested. In answering the scribe’s question, Jesus gave more than was asked. He named not just the first of the commandments, but the second as well. Both were a commandment to love. Jesus was saying to the scribe that at the heart of the Jewish religion is love. It is as if Jesus is saying, ‘if you really want to boil down what it is that God wills for our lives, it is love’. The call to love was also at the heart of the new movement within Judaism that Jesus started. Within this call to love, Jesus gives priority to the commandment to love God. God alone is to be loved with all our being, all our heart, soul, mind and strength. This commandment is in our first reading this Sunday from the Book of Deuteronomy. In this first commandment, we are being asked to give God first place in our lives. Because there is only one God, one Lord, God alone is worthy of our total love. Such love involves acknowledging our dependence on God, recognizing how much we receive from God and then offering all that back to God in love. Saint Ignatius of Loyola had a strong sense of how much he had received from God and a great desire to give it all back to God in love. In one of his prayers he says, ‘Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, all my will – all that I have and possess. You, Lord, have given all to me. I now give it back to you’. That prayer captures this all-embracing love of God that Jesus calls for in the first commandment. Because Jesus is God with us, this prayer can be addressed to Jesus, and the call to love God with all our being is also the call to love Jesus, our risen Lord, with all our being.

Inseparably connected to this primary love is what Jesus calls the second commandment, which is as important as the first, and that is the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves. This commandment too is to be found the Jewish Scriptures, in the Book of Leviticus. Jesus seems to have done something new in bringing together these two commandments in this way. He was saying that these are the two pillars, the cornerstone, on which everything else in the Jewish religion, stands. These two commandments are in a league of their own. In bringing together these two commandments, Jesus declares that the love of God with all our being always finds expression in loving the neighbour as if they were an extension of ourselves. For Jesus, these two commandments are inseparable. It is not possible to love God and disregard our neighbour. Who is our neighbour? Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus understands the ‘neighbour’ in the broadest possible sense, as every other human being, including those who are very different from us and who traditionally may even have been considered as our enemies.

Jesus lived those two commandments to the full. We learn from him what it means to love God with all our being and to love our neighbour as ourselves. He gives flesh to these two commandments. According to today’s second reading, Jesus offered himself. He gave himself in love to God and to all humanity by his life and, above all, by his death. Having been raised from the dead, he continues to give himself in love to God and to all of us. That is why the second reading goes on to say that, as risen Lord, ‘he lives for ever to intercede for all who come to God through him’. Out of love for God and for us all, he prays for us to support us on our journey towards God. As risen Lord, he not only prays for us, but he also gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live the two great commandments of love to the full. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God’s love that has been poured into our hearts. God’s love for us is always prior to our love for him. When we open ourselves up to God’s unconditional love for us, will be empowered to love God in return and to love others in the way God loves them.

And/Or

(ii) Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

It is easy to speak in generalities, as we know. It can be tempting to make statements about whole groups of people. If we have had a bad experience of one particular group, we tend to be suspicious of any individual who belongs to that group. Yet, the individual person can always surprise us. Individuals do not always show themselves to be typical of their group. Indeed, each individual human being is an extraordinary mystery. They are not simply carbon copies of some group identity.

In the gospels, the scribes as a group tended to be hostile to Jesus. They were experts in the Jewish law and they resented what they saw to be Jesus’ unconventional interpretation of the Jewish law. The gospels mention the scribes as one of the groups that were responsible for handing Jesus over to Pilate to be crucified. In telling the story of Jesus’ passion and death, the evangelists refer to the chief priests, the elders and the scribes, treating them as one unified grouping, intent on eliminating Jesus. Yet, not every scribe was a carbon copy of that grouping.

In today’s gospel we find a Jewish scribe in respectful dialogue with Jesus. The scribe asks Jesus a serious question, the kind of question that would have engaged such a person’s mind. He wanted Jesus to give an opinion as to which of all the 600 plus commandments of the Jewish law was the most important one. Jesus gives him a straight answer: ‘This is the first’, and he goes on to quote from the Book of Deuteronomy. Jesus, in fact, gave the scribe more than he asked for. The scribe asked for the first of all the commandments; Jesus gave him the first and the second. Having quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy, he immediately quotes from the Book of Leviticus. The scribe’s response to Jesus’ answer shows how much he appreciated it, ‘Well spoken, Master’. Jesus’ subsequent response to the scribe shows how much Jesus appreciated this earnest man, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God’. Here we have two men, who would have been expected to be opponents, showing tremendous respect for each other. They each appreciated the good in the other.

Learning to recognize the good in the other is part of the meaning of what Jesus calls the second commandment. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. The way that commandment is expressed suggests very strongly that we can only recognize the good in others if we have first recognized the good in ourselves. The very first chapter of the Bible is a poetic description of God’s creation of the world. One of the refrains that run through that chapter is ‘God saw that it was good’. God’s creation is essentially good, and that is especially true of the pinnacle of God’s creative work, the human person. We are all too well aware that we are far from being saints. We recognize areas of sin within us; we struggle with dark thoughts and dark feelings. We have regrets around what we have done and what we have failed to do. Yet, for all of that, there is a core of goodness in each one of us, because we have been created by God who alone is all good. The challenge is to recognize and to honour that core of goodness in ourselves and in others, sometimes in spite of the evidence to the contrary. More than any human being, Jesus had that ability to celebrate the goodness of others. Time and time again, the gospels show him recognizing and proclaiming the goodness of people who had been written off and labelled as sinners or as people of no significance. He was, in that sense, the tremendous lover, to quote the title of a book about Jesus that was very popular when I was a seminarian. Jesus recognized God in others and taught others to do the same. On one occasion, he took a child in his arms and declared that whoever receives one such child receives him and whoever receives him receives God who sent him.

Jesus recognized God in others because he knew God, not just with his mind, but with his heart. His knowledge of God was the knowledge born of love. Because Jesus loved God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, he could recognize God in places and in people where God was not normally noticed. It was Jesus’ relationship with God which enabled him to recognize God, to recognize goodness, even when it was hidden from most other people. In the same way, it is our relationship with God, our love of God, our putting God first, that will make it possible for us to recognize God in others, to celebrate the goodness of others, to love others in that sense. That is why Jesus declares that the first commandment of all is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The most important relationship in our lives to get right is our relationship with God, Jesus is saying. It is only in loving God with our whole being, in giving to God what belongs to God, that we will be able to recognize God in ourselves and in others, and on the basis of that to love and honour ourselves and others.

Because as Christians we believe that Jesus is God with us, for us to love God with our whole being is to love Jesus with our whole being. That is the first commandment. In that sense, it is not surprising that before the risen Lord sent out Peter to shepherd God’s people, to love God’s people, he first asked him, ‘Do you love me?’ That is also the Lord’s question to all of us.

And/Or

(iii) Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the tasks we all have in life is trying to discern what is most important. We wonder what needs to be at the centre of our lives and what can move out towards the edge. This can be true of our faith life too. We ask ourselves what is it that is central to what we believe. From its earliest days the church found it necessary to list its core beliefs. This led to the formation of the creeds, which we recite every Sunday. In the time of Jesus, there was a similar concern among Jews to get to the core of their faith. What commandment was in a category of its own among the six hundred and thirteen commandments of the Jewish Law? This concern is behind the question put to Jesus in today’s gospel reading by an expert in the Jewish Law, ‘Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ 

The scribe was looking for one commandment out of the hundreds that were in the Law. However, in focusing on the core of the Jewish Law, Jesus highlighted two commandments that were to be found in different books of the Jewish Scriptures and he brought them together in a very distinctive way. The first commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, is found in the book of Deuteronomy, and the second commandment, ‘you must love your neighbour as yourself’, is in the book of Leviticus. What is common to both commandments is the word ‘love’. It is as if Jesus is saying, ‘if you really want to boil down what it is that God wills for our lives, it is love’. Love is the centre of the Jewish Law. It is also, of course, the centre of Jesus’ life and message.

If what unites these two commandments is the word ‘love’, what distinguishes them is the object of our love. In this respect, Jesus speaks of a first and a second commandment. If these two commandments have a unique role within all the commandments in the Jewish Law, one is more important than the other. The first and most important of the two is to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. We probably find it easier to get our head around the second commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves. We may not find it easy to do, but we understand what it means. It is to act in a way that serves the total well-being of our neighbour. We might ask, like another scribe in the gospel story, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Jesus answered that question in the story of the Samaritan who cared for the half dead Jewish man by the roadside. We are to treat everyone as if they were a neighbour, including the stranger who crosses our path, whoever they are. Jesus is suggesting in that story that, rather than trying to figure out who is and isn’t my neighbour, what matters is to be a loving neighbour to all whom we encounter in life. That is the kind of love Jesus embodied in his own life. He revealed God’s love to all, without discrimination, whether they were Jews, Samaritans or pagans.  

This is a very demanding kind of love that Jesus calls for, which brings us to the first commandment. Jesus is saying that it is our loving relationship with God which will empower us to love others in this generous way. That is why loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, is the first and greatest of the commandments. In our world today, that first commandment tends to be disconnected from the second one and often abandoned altogether. In that first commandment, we are being asked to love God with all our being. This involves acknowledging our dependence on God, recognizing how much we receive from God and then offering all that back to God in loving gratitude. Saint Ignatius of Loyola had a strong sense of how much he had received from God and a great desire to give it all back to God. This comes through in one of his well-known prayers, ‘Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, all my will – all that I have and possess. You, Lord, have given all to me. I now give it back to you’. That prayer captures something of this all-embracing love of God that Jesus calls for in the first commandment. Jesus is suggesting that when we love God in this complete way, we will be caught up into God’s love for all humanity.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[mental-health-and-jesus]

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John 13:34-35 📖

34: ‘A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”35: “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.’

Other Bible Verses ✝️

25: ‘so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.’ 26: ‘If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.’ 27: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.’ ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭25-27‬

12: ‘And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.’ ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬

16: ‘no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a beloved brother. He is especially beloved to me, but even more so to you, both in person and in the Lord.’ ‭17: “So if you consider me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.’ Philemon‬ ‭1‬:‭16-17

1: ‘Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!’ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭133‬:‭1‬

4: ‘Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,’ 5: “so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.’ Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭4‬-5

16: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ ‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬

4: ‘I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.’ 5: ‘And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.’ 6: ‘And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.’ ‭‭2 John‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬

36: ‘“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?”’ 37: ‘Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”’ 39: ‘And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”’ Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭36‬-37

LORD✝️ YHWH✝️ אֲדֹנָי✝️ אלוהים✝️ Is Always With You 💗