#I was tempted to go into depth about what works according to my knowledge but I was too shy and flustered 🫠

[sprite-periodt]

Not an irl friend teasing me about how sensitive my tummy is like shut up?????😭

[dreamersleeps]

I keep re-reading MHA 299 and I know many are upset Hawks is standing up for Endeavor but... I get the whole chapter was setting up that Hawks is going to commit suicide by heroically protecting Endeavor. He doesn’t want to look at the alternative because it just adds to the tragedy of his life, but also because he wants to die. He probably feels he doesn’t HAVE to investigate it at ALL because what does it do for him? He’ll be dead and it won’t be something he has to worry about.

Hello, it’s nice to talk to you again! :) So I’m not sure if this is the response you were looking for cause I just sat down, began writing and it kinda went off topic? I’m not entirely sure, but thank you for sending your thoughts and opinions in!

I read over Chapter 299 a few more times and I’m not sure if I really interpreted it as Hawks wanting to die. However I think I can kind of see what you mean by he’s going to commit suicide in the sense that (depending on the outcome) the action of Hawks going to help Endeavor is “suicide” in that it is his choice. 

I think the root of my interpretation lies with my opinion that while Horikoshi does work with heavy and difficult subjects, I can not see him ending the story of Hawks’ with death. While I think he could die in a metaphorical or symbolic way (something I believe has already happened when he took Jin’s life) when his story ends, a physical death is not impossible.

Just to express my train of thoughts easier, the following panels are not in the exact order of how they appear. 

"Endeavor’s in Trouble” 

I can see how you could interpret what Hawks says as him “standing up” for Endeavor but I did not really read it in that way. Standing up for him implies that he is in a way “okay” with what Endeavor has done in the past, and if we get more on Hawks’ thoughts later it will be clearer on where he stands but if this is all we get, I’d argue that he is not “letting things slide,” because it’s Endeavor. 

All we currently have is that Hawks states, “Endeavor’s in trouble.” I think he’s most likely referring to Dabi here. 

I guess you could argue that he may commit metaphorical suicide by choosing to help Endeavor. If we want to continue pursuing the Icarus narrative: then even after falling and after gaining his freedom, Hawks chooses to head towards Endeavor, or the sun again.  

So as you convey, this is the controversial page. 

“Even if what Dabi says about the Todoroki family is true... I know things are different now.” 

The inclusion of Hawks’ memory of Shouto and Endeavor is very, very important here. It appears in the middle of this sentence. I’d argue that Hawks here was not brushing off or ignoring what happened in the Todoroki household, and again this is mainly because of the inclusion of the memory which happens during the Endeavor Internship arc. This is how he is thinking through the situation. Seeing as we get a glimpse of Hawks’ past memories, I’m sure that he has been contemplating about everything that was revealed by Dabi. Especially considering that Hawks most likely can relate to Touya to a certain extent. 

Hawks’ hero career involved a lot of him having to collect information, analyze information and reach a conclusion in order for him to act upon it. Perhaps that is why when he states, “I know things are different now,” it comes off as very bold. I think the boldness of his statement is what may have upset people but I think it has to do with the way he’s been trained to think. 

The secret missions Hawks had to undertake while working for the Hero Public Safety Commission required one to detach their job from their individual feelings and thoughts. He must not let sentiments get in the way. 

Sentiments 

As always, I like to include definitions of words I find very important that could be understood differently based on who you are - what are sentiments? A couple definitions that come up in the dictionary are: 

1) an attitude, thought, or judgment prompted by feeling, 2) an idea colored by emotion (Merriam-Webster) and 3) exaggerated and self-indulgent feelings of tenderness, sadness or nostalgia (dictionary) 

We see that feelings and emotion get in the way with his job when Hawks confronts Jin. Hawks had a connection and relationship with Jin that he did not have in his life. As we see below in Chapter 265 even Dabi points this out, “Looks like sentiment tripped you up after all, hero!” Yes, ultimately Hawks takes Jin’s life but I do believe he was hesitant and did not want to. The dialogue between the two has Hawks expressing that he believes that Jin is a good person who was dealt an unlucky hand in life. 

While he does convey that he wants to “save” Jin by helping him but after already assessing the threat he believed Jin posed and with the arrival of Dabi, Hawks weights his options and chooses to take his life. 

From a detached, cold reading of this scene, Hawks does mess up. His hesitance distracts him and makes himself vulnerable to Dabi’s attack which badly burns him, and he loses a large portion of his feathers. 

Now I’m only going to focus on the fact that Hawks takes Jin’s life and the thinking that went behind it. I’m not here to discuss in depth about my thoughts and opinions on the matter however I think by the end of this post, you may have an idea on where I stand.  

What is a hero? 

Okay, my wording here is confusing but I’m going to try the best I can to convey what I’m trying to get at. There is also the idea of the two concepts of heroism that float around the manga: 1) working as hero as an occupation and being able to fulfill that role, and then 2) one who we label as a hero/heroic in how they think and act. For both we think of saving, strength, power, charisma, etc. 

Then there are the other qualities we tend to associate with the second concept of who/what a hero is: being selfless and compassionate, having moral integrity, showing concern for others no matter who it is and being understanding of others’ perspectives. There are others as well but these are what come to mind at the moment. 

While the qualities I list above can be associated with heroes in general, in BNHA there has been an effort to differentiate at least two different concepts of heroism. The biggest example was with the introduction of the character Stain. If the reader had not been questioning hero society beforehand, Stain told us directly to think critically and refrain from being passive like the characters in the story. Due to the emergence of quirks, there were those whose quirks deemed “unacceptable” by society, their existence often leading to a difficult life or being  labeled as a villain. The demand for heroes created the concept of the hero as a job. 

And so heroes became celebrities. They are rich and influential, and they cover the cities with their faces to sell and endorse products. Even the physical copies of the BNHA manga have ads of various pro-heroes selling products in the back. There’s plenty of other criticisms that you could talk about such as the Hero Billboard Chart. 

While the older pro-heroes seem to have lost or never embodied the meaning of what the reader may argue as “being a true hero,” we see that there is a difference with the students, but first let’s go back to Hawks and Twice again. 

Yes, Hawks attempts to save Jin but the outcome is that he takes his life instead. Definitely not what the act of saving is supposed to look like. As seen above, Hawks had already verbalized that he may have to kill Jin. I’ll also throw in that I felt like Hawks was looking down at him in pity (like he does with his parents) and determines that Jin is need of saving. Hawks reaches that conclusion himself. But that is not what happens. Instead he decides that the death, or “sacrifice” of an individual is worth it if he can save hundreds or thousands of others. In this way you could argue that he has successfully acted to fulfill his job as a hero. But, as many people were wondering: 

Aren’t heroes supposed to save everyone? 

Perhaps one of the defining qualities of a hero is that they chose to save indiscriminately or most importantly, whoever they can reach. 

In the same arc we get Midoriya who is faced with a very similar situation. Shigaraki poses as a significant threat to the heroes and the rest of Japan. Midoriya knows that Shigaraki can wipe out all of those he holds dear to him and the rest of Japan if he is not stopped. Midoriya sees firsthand Shigaraki’s terrifying and destructive powers, his friends, teachers and allies being critically injured. He is with the knowledge that the people in his life and millions others may lose their lives. 

When faced with such a horrifying outcome, would stopping Shigaraki be enough? I’m assuming that taking his life would have been a very tempting option. To take a life to save millions of lives.

But even after all that we get this page spread of Midoriya’s final thoughts before he loses consciousness at the end of Chapter 295. 

Midoriya chooses compassion. 

The juxtaposition of Midoriya’s thoughts and image gave me chills when I first saw it. We see the outcome of the conflict: a quiet, lifeless city in ruins with the dust in the process of settling. This is the result of Shigaraki’s destruction. The reality that there are thousands of civilians who got hurt, are critically injured or even dead hangs heavy in the air. When society chose to ignore Shigaraki and the heroes chose to label him as an evil, unredeemable villain, Midoriya has chosen to look directly at him. 

Based on the first concept of what a hero is/does according to hero society, Midoriya dues not fulfill his duty as a hero after failing to defeat Shigaraki, however based on the second concept because he chooses compassion he has begun to embody the ideals of who a hero truly is.

Hawks is tripped up by sentiments but acts to finish the job the way he sees fit. 

exaggerated and self-indulgent feelings of tenderness, sadness or nostalgia 

He tries to be compassionate and understanding but isn’t. He has an image of Jin he created himself that is not the true Jin, hence why they are mere sentiments. He chooses to focus on his mission because he does not actual understand how Jin was feeling. This results in him looking past Jin’s life to protect the lives of millions of others. In contrast, Midoriya recognizes Shigaraki, the person who is standing immediately in front of him. In its purest form, to be a hero means to save indiscriminately and to save those you can reach. 

Being a hero as a career in BNHA becomes tricky as it means to defeat and take down villains, and choosing who to save as Hawks demonstrates. 

However to save someone like Shigaraki, Dabi or Toga (who were all let down by hero society) requires someone to take the more difficult path to reach a hand out with selflessness, compassion, and understanding. It seems that Midoriya, Shouto and Ochako will be the ones to extend their hands to them. 

“Starting With my Origin” 

Children often are only able to understand and grasp basic concepts. A hero is someone who saves you, or puts a smile on your face. We get a glimpse back in to Hawks’ childhood, to that innocent concept of heroes that Hawks had. 

As they say, “Never meet your idols/heroes” mainly because they are not actually who they are portrayed to be. The world looks very simple when you are younger, black and white, but as you grow and experience more of life, you start to begin to see just how complicated things are. There are way more gray areas when you begin to look closely. 

Similarly, Hawks does not see him in the same lens as he did in his childhood. He understands that the image of Endeavor he had when he was younger is not who Endeavor actually is. I don’t think that Hawks’ decision to want to go help him was made without thought. He takes in information and contemplates on it until he makes a conclusion. For someone who was actively seeking out more information, I’m wondering if all he has is what Dabi has stated. We have to remember that the information we have as the reader is not the same as the characters in the story. I’d also argue that he is not ignoring what Dabi has said but taking into consideration the past and whether Endeavor is working to change. 

Now that he is most likely no longer working for the Hero Public Safety Commission, he is free to do as he please, and as seen earlier, he chooses to walk towards Endeavor. The team up between the two in Fukuoka, and the ambush against the League of Villains and Meta liberation army may have strengthened their relationship but Hawks wanting to help Endeavor this time does not stem from hero work. 

Wanting to help Endeavor will put him directly on the path towards Dabi. 

Like you, some people believe that he may as in consequence for his actions, he will ultimately crash in to the ocean like Icarus, and die. The final fall. Perhaps his mistake will be that he will choose to pick Endeavor over Dabi, or find himself in a position where he may believe he has to take Dabi’s life away as well. 

Others believe that Hawks has had his Icarus fall already but will learn from the consequences of his actions. He’s died, but has been reborn like a phoenix. Shouto will be meeting Dabi again as well, and as we’ve seen, like Midoriya, he sees Touya as a person: his brother. He even identifies himself to him. I’ve seen people talking about and hoping for a team up between Hawks and Shouto so we’ll see what happens if they do. 

I’m going to bring the very last page back, but most of Chapter 299 has to do with Hawks’ childhood. His mother would ask him about why he was born and what the point of his wings were for and Hawks’ answer is to save people.

“Starting with my origin, so to speak... Endeavor’s in trouble.” 

We get a focus, visually to Hawks’ back. The origins of what allowed Hawks to save and be a hero: his fierce wings quirk, and it looks his wings are healing and growing back. I think you could also see it as him referring to Endeavor as well. The hero who saved him when he was a child, could also be seen as his origin.

During the High End vs Endeavor fight in Chapter 190, we see some of Hawks’ insecurities. Hawks is/was insecure about his back, and that is where his wings are. This was during the time when Hawks was working as a hero because it was his job. He did have that desire to save people but it was only a muted motivation behind what he did: he worked as a hero as a job first. I’m wondering if things have changed. 

Putting this all together, I think I’m currently leaning towards the second possible outcome from what I listed before. If Hawks can go back to his origin and become someone who tries to embody the true heroism. Of course he’ll stumble but it’ll still be a drastic change from how he had been living before. 

While I understand that many people are upset about these panels, I think we have to wait to see what will happen. To be honest, while I’d personally prefer the second outcome, I think I would be satisfied with either outcome. 

As the reader, we certainly can argue that Hawks is a tragic character however I’m not sure if Hawks considers his life as “tragic.” I think he will continue to do what he can as I feel like he defines his purpose based on what he does.

So will Hawks be tripped up on sentiments again, or will he be able to think and be understanding like Midoriya? 

As for now, I think it may be the first. 

[the--blackdahlia]

Too Young to Fall in Love Chapter 48 (Dirt!Nikki x Reader)

Title: Too Young to Fall in Love 48

Summary: Nikki Sixx was a hard partying musician on the strip. He never expected to fall in love with anyone, until a girl knocked on his dressing room door looking for a ride home and took his breath away. Just like everything else Nikki did; the drugs, the money, the music; Nikki went hard with love. (Y/n) Bass never expected the bassist of Motley Crue to be the one to shake her calm and calculated life up. She had a plan. Graduate school, become an epic producer, and watch from behind the scenes as her brother’s band rose to fame. Nikki and (Y/n) were perfect for each other, too bad her brother, Tommy, didn’t think so.

Series warnings:  Smut (18+ Please), drug use, language, referenced miscarriage, drug overdose, mentioned attempted suicide, out of character moments for everyone in the band, the timeline might be a little screwy but it’s fanfiction! I know nothing of music production and my medical knowledge is really screwy, so it won’t be accurate.

Nikki had been kicked out of the house by the women in his life. Because, according to the explanation given to him by Athena, he could not see the bride for the next twenty-four hours. The next time he would see her, she would be in a white dress and about to become Mrs. Sixx. Which he was fine with. That’s how he found himself at Tommy’s place with Mick and Vince, all getting ready for the next day.

“My baby sister’s getting married.” Tommy said as he lit up a cigarette and watched Mick deal the cards.

“Where are the strippers?” Vince teased.

“I think we’ve all had enough strippers for a lifetime.” Mick chuckled.

“Dude, there is no such thing as too many strippers.” Tommy chuckled. “I just thought a quiet night in would be nice.”

“And you want to avoid booze?” Nikki asked.

“I mean, there’s that too.” He laughed. “Pamela dumped it all out while I was at rehab. So the closest to alcohol we have is root beer and that shit you put on cuts.”

“Get hurt a lot?” Vince asked with a laugh.

“Do you know how many scars I have man? Some are from burns thanks to somebody’s stage fire splattering.” Tommy laughed, looking over at Nikki.

“Hey, it was cool.” Nikki shrugged. “Chicks dug it.”

“Hey. You’re marrying my sister. She’s the only chick you better be talking about.” Tommy smiled at him. “I still can’t believe my best friend and my best sister.”

“I dare you to tell that to Athena.” Vince said. Tommy shook his head.

“I’m stupid, not suicidal.” He laughed.

Nikki looked at himself in the mirror, he found himself doubting he could make her happy. With a small sigh he plastered a smile on his face and looked to the guys. “Ok, so what are we gonna do before I get married tomorrow?”

“Strip club.” Vince cougheded.

“We need to go someplace where Tommy can’t be tempted by alcohol, but Vince can see cute girls.” Mick grumbled. “Where to go?”

“I don’t know,” Nikki chuckled. “Only other option is to just call a stripper to come here,” he took a bite of his apple and banged his head on the counter top, “I’m going to be a bad husband I just know it.”

“What? Where did this come from?” Mick asked. “Nikki, you’re pretty much already her husband. The only difference is she has your last name legally.”

“I just…” he looked at Tommy and sighed. “T-bone a lot of those words you said in the past still haunt me man… I know you weren't in the right state of mind but…. your words stuck to me man…” Nikki muttered. “I know I’m not the ideal guy you thought of for (Y/n), but… I fell in love with her the minute she showed up at that gig all those years ago.”

“And I was a high and drunk asshole when I said those things,” Tommy told him. “I was pissed that you were dating my sister and I was pissed she was taking my best friend away from me. I got sober and realized my mistakes. Yeah, I relapsed and screwed it up again, but you two are perfect for each other, okay?”

Nikki gave him a sad smile, “Not sure about perfect,” he shook his head. “I couldn’t even see that her depression came crawling back. I should have taken her with me to my sessions… leaving her alone in that house was a mistake.”  

“But you helped her before anything else happened,” Vince pointed out. “And they got her on the right meds.”

“Yeah,” Nikki looked at Tommy. “Naked wedding message to (Y/n)?” he shrugged with a devilish grin.  

“Gross.” Tommy groaned.

“Okay, so I got the perfect place to go,” Mick told them. “No alcohol whatsoever yet. Give them time. There’s cute girls for Vince to stare at, Nikki can’t send any naked messages without being arrested, and I can watch all of you three idiots.”

“Hooters?” Vince guessed.

“The Whiskey?” Tommy smiled.

“The darkest depths of my mind?” Nikki drawled looking at Mick.

“Boys, let’s go back to Disneyland.”

****

“Disneyland?” (Y/n) asked, looking at the sign as they passed.

“Our Tia’s have never been, and all the cousins and such want to go. It’ll be great!” Athena laughed. “And tomorrow, you’ll be getting married and on your way to some nice vacation.”

“Yes!” Vanessa smiled. “Oh and besides, all the food baby and I can eat soooo much good stuff without Vince freaking out too much.”

“Didn’t your doctor say to cut back on the sugar?” (Y/n) asked. She smiled as they parked the car and got out. A huge caravan of women walking to the ticket center.

“Yeah but I can’t help it, baby and I love sweets, and hot sauce, and pickles, and a lot of other stuff that I am dying to have!” Vanessa laughed. (Y/n) just laughed. They got their tickets and before anyone could say anything, the aunts and cousins were all rushing off, leaving Athena, (Y/n), and Vanessa standing there.

“Wow.” (Y/n) laughed. “They ditched us.”

“Better for us to get into some… uh oh…” Vanessa turned Athena around and pointed to the guys.

“What is...shit!” Athena turned (Y/n) around.

“Guys? What’s going on?” (Y/n) asked.

“Nothing, let’s go ride some rides and take some pictures bride to be,” Vanessa said as she and Athena led (Y/n) away from the main area.

*******

“Ok so we have free reign and we can totally take pictures and ….” Mick grabbed Nikki by his shoulders and led him in the opposite direction he saw the girls in.

“Dude, I wanted to get a picture of the castle.” Nikki said. “What gives?”

“We’ll have plenty of time for that,” Mick signalled to Vince and Tommy what was going on. “We should get pictures with princesses first!”

“I remember the last time we were here.” Vince chuckled. “Wonder if that princess still works here.”

“Maybe, we can hitch a ride on the teacups too,” Tommy said as he grabbed Nikki’s shoulders. “We can spin it really fast and make ourselves dizzy.”

“Okay, okay.” Nikki laughed. “Teacups sound like fun.”

Tommy let out a laugh and gave Mick a thumbs up, “Yeah! Let’s go.” They led Nikki to the teacups, away from the girls.

With the girls, Vanessa and Athena bought (Y/n) a pair of ears the were white and had a veil. She looked beautiful as they took pictures of her.

“Ok, so what should we ride first?” Vanessa looked at them, “What?”

“You can’t go on rides Nessa.” (Y/n) sighed. “Well, slow rides you can. But nothing fast or hard.”

“I’m killing Vince for doing this to me,” she grumbled. “I can wait while you two go on the fast rides, but seriously which ones first?”

“Figure out which one is pregnancy safe. We’ll alternate so Nessa doesn’t feel so left out.” (Y/n) told Athena as they grabbed a map of the park.

“Teacups sounds good,” Athena smiled. “We don’t have to spin it fast and we can just let the ride spin for us.”

“Teacups! Let’s go!” (Y/n) smiled and led the way.

The girls waited in line while the guys were on the ride themselves. Nikki and Tommy grabbed their own teacup spinning it as fast as possible, while Vince and Mick sat in their relaxing.

“Kids.” Mick chuckled. “Oh shit! Vince, the girls are in line.”

“Awww crap,” Vince said as Mick tried to signal Tommy. “We need to rush Nik to the exit.”

“They’re spinning too fast to see us.” Mick sighed. The ride started to slow down.

“I’ll grab Nik since my bones aren’t turning to stone. You get the other shithead.” Vince told Mick.

“Jackass,” Mick grumbled as they both scrambled to get to Tommy and Nikki and usher them to the exit.

“Oh hey look, Alice is over there,” Vanessa smiled as she pointed away from the boys. “Maybe we can take a picture with her after our ride.”

“Oh, I love Alice.” (Y/n) smiled. “And I think I saw Ariel. I saw that movie in New York. I loved it!”

“Yeah we can definitely take pictures,” Athena smiled. “I’m sure they have someone dressed as Ariel, we can do some funny pics.” (Y/n) smiled and walked to the teacups while the boys ran away from them.

“What’s the rush guys?” Nikki asked. “I thought we were going to take things slow and enjoy the night?”

“Yeah, but you know we have lots of things to see and we want to get to the best rides man,” Tommy smiled. “Oh look a princess!”

“Remember, you’re married.” Vince lovingly pointed out. “No blow jobs at Disneyland for you sir.”

“Yeah you’re engage so the same goes for you,” Tommy smiled. “Dudes, this is going to be a night to remember. Let’s find the fast rides and go crazy.”

Nikki looked back and froze, for a second he could have sworn that there was a woman who looked like (Y/n) taking pictures of Athena. It made him miss her as Mick, Vince, and Tommy dragged him away towards the matterhorn.

“Guys, I think I’m going crazy.” Nikki told them.

“You are crazy.” Tommy said with a shrug.

“No, I swear I just saw (Y/n).” He told them. “But she’s not here, right?”

“No,” the guys repeated at the same time.

“You’re seeing things man,” Vince smiled. “Come on the Matterhorn is waiting for us!” Nikki followed along with them.

“Hey you guys go. I’ll catch up. Need to take a piss.” Mick told them. He looked around and spied Athena. He pulled her aside while Vanessa was distracting (Y/n).

“We’re going to the Matterhorn,” He told Athena. “We need to figure out a system. I didn’t realize you guys were going to be here too. But Vince wanted to go to a strip club and Tommy wanted to bring the strippers to us.”

Athena sighed, “Ok, well we’re going to space and we can just try to go counter clockwise?” Athena rubbed her forehead. “Jeez this is going to be either funny or a nightmare, I haven't decided yet.”

“We’ll look back on it and laugh later on.” He smiled at her. “I owe you a beer if we pull this off.”

“Right back at you.” She headed back over to Vanessa and (Y/n) while Mick went to meet up with the guys.

The night went of with the girls going one way while the guys went another. That is until it was time for the fireworks show.

“I’d love to get some shots of the fireworks above the castle.” Nikki told the boys. “That’s the popular place to watch them, isn’t it?”

“Yeah man,” Mick smiled. He didn’t figure the girls had the same idea.

“I wish (Y/n) was here with me man, I mean… I gotta bring her back and do this again,” Nikki smiled.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s going just fine.” Tommy said, looking around to see if the girls were nearby. He could see Athena across the crowd, trying to find a perfect spot to hide (Y/n) from. But as long as Nikki was distracted with his photography, he wouldn’t see (Y/n). It didn’t take long for the fireworks display to begin and Nikki kept snapping pictures. He smiled at the beauty of the colors above the castle and across the night sky.

“We should hire them to do our shows!” Tommy said, excitedly. “Could you imagine us playing in front of the castle while fireworks went off?”

“Yeah, I don’t think Shout at the Devil is something Disney would let be played here.” Vince laughed. “And could you imagine us singing the songs from the Lion King?” Nikki pointed his camera in a direction to capture a really beautiful display, unknowingly snapping (Y/n) in the frame while she watched it.

At the end of the night, the guys made their way back to Tommy’s house. Nikki smiling as he looked at his friends, “I’m getting married tomorrow.”

“That you are.” Tommy laughed. “How do you feel?”

“Just… I’m excited and nervous… I… I never thought we would get here and here we are man.” Nikki smiled. Tommy looked at his best friend. It had been a long time since he saw Nikki smile that brightly with a light in his eyes.

“Well, I’m glad it was (Y/n) who could do it for you.” Tommy smiled. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.” He stopped. “You wanna know what I just thought of?”

“What?” Nikki looked at Tommy.

“You’ll be my brother-in-law. I always wanted a brother!” Tommy laughed.

Nikki hugged Tommy and smiled, “Me too twin.”

*****

(Y/n) woke up early the next morning. Athena and Vanessa were camped out in the guest room, but there were family members all over the place. (Y/n) quietly crept outside and sat in one of the lounge chairs. In about twelve hours, she would be Mrs. Sixx. Jett and Ziggy came out through the open door.

“Hey babies. You’re going to Aunt Nessa and Uncle Vince’s. Does that sound like fun?” (Y/n) kissed their heads. The dogs licked and barked happily as they tried to find a way to both cuddle her. (Y/n) had a few minutes of peace with her babies before the chaos started. Everyone was running around, getting ready to head towards the reserved beach.

“I’ve got your dress and shoes.” Vanessa told (Y/n).

“I got the hair and makeup,” Athena added. “The flowers are at the dressing room at the beach. Everything is ready. The aunts and mom are decorating as we speak. Everything should be exactly the way you envisioned it.” Their event was a late afternoon, early evening wedding.

“Do you think Nikki’s gonna like the dress?” (Y/n) asked Vanessa as they got in the car.

“I think he’s going to like taking it off of you.” She laughed. (Y/n) shook her head.

“I bet you twenty bucks that his jaw drops and he can’t form words,” Athen smiled.

“You think?” (Y/n) asked. “He’s seen me in dresses before though.”

“Did you forget how he fumbled his words when he took you out when you guys first saw each other properly after your break up?” Athena laughed. “I agree with Tommy this time, he is going to flip.”  

They arrived at the beach that they had paid to reserve. They girls made their way into the house that set there that was used for weddings. (Y/n) was wrapped in her robe while Athena worked on her hair and makeup.

“I got the stuff you asked for!” Pamela called out, running in. “Something old, new, borrowed, and blue!” She had the four items. “The borrowed is the bracelet I wore all the time on Tool Time and I got picked up to be a model!”

“Thanks Pamela.” (Y/n) said with a smile. It was time to get in the dress.

****

“God, I look stupid.” Tommy said, pulling at his tie. “Nikki, I hate ties. Why couldn’t I just have a dressy shirt?”

“Ask your mother,” Nikki smiled and fixed his own. “Ok… we got everything?”

“Yep!” Vince told him. “You ready Sixx?”

“Oh yeah,” he smiled but then a thought came across him. “What if she runs away? What if she realizes that…”

“Are you getting cold feet now?” Mick asked. “Don’t make me take the cheetah badge away from you…”

Nikki shook his head, “she’s going to take one look at me and realize it’s all a mistake I just know it,” Nikki placed his hands on the small table and started hyperventilating.

“Jesus Christ! Tommy hand me that bag!” Mick said. Tommy quickly brought it over and Mick worked Nikki through calming breaths. “Would she have stayed with you these past couple years if she didn’t want to be with you?”

“Pity?” Nikki looked at Mick. “she could just be pitying me I mean I am pathetic.”

“Dude, would she have paid for the dress and everything out of pity? No.” Tommy shook his head. “She loves you man.”

“If you’re having doubts, you need to decide right now if you want to marry her. Don’t go through with it and make her go through the process of a divorce like I did to all my wives.” Vince sighed.

“I’m not doubting here man,” Nikki shook his head. “I just… I have a feeling she’s going to doubt me.” Nikki closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure how to bring himself out of it. He knew it wasn’t rational but he wished he could talk to her. “I wanna talk to her… I… I need to hear her voice man.”  

“You can’t see her. It’s bad luck. And my aunts will have your balls.” Tommy said. “They’ll have all of ours.”

“They don't have to see each other they can talk through the door we can makes sure there’s no peeking.” Mick looked at Tommy.  

“I...I guess.” He threw his hands up. “Come on, let’s go.”

*******

“Wait you’re what?” Athena hissed. “Tommy, the aunts are going to kill us if they find out what we’re trying to do?” she whispered into the cell phone.

“Look, he’s freaking out and he won’t calm down until he talks to her. They can sit on each side of the door and she can calm him down.” Tommy told her. “I’m afraid he’s going to run if we don’t and I don’t want (Y/n) to get worse.”

“Ok,” Athena looked at Vanessa and hung up with Tommy. “We have a mission Impossible on our hands guys,” Athena sighed.

“What did the idiot do now?” Vanessa asked with a laugh as she looked over at (Y/n), who was getting the last few alterations on her dress done before the wedding.

“Nikki wants to hear her voice,” Athena sighed. “Going to try and have them stand behind either side of the door so they can talk.”

“They’re getting married in just a couple hours. Can’t he wait?” Vanessa asked.

“Apparently he’s freaking out,” Athena sighed. “At least she isn’t freaking out.”

“She’s more of a calm freak out.” Vanessa sighed. She went towards (Y/n). “Can I borrow you for a second before pictures?” She asked.

“Uh, sure.” (Y/n) stepped away from the aunts. They started to fuss with Athena and Pamela, getting them ready. “What’s going on?”

“Just need you to talk to someone,” Vanessa smiled as she walked down the hall and to a door. She knocked softly and Mick peered his head.

“You got the bride?” he looked at Vanessa.

“You got the groom?” She asked. Mick nodded.

“Ok bass player, your bride is out there, so you stand right here,” he put Nikki with his back facing the door, “and talk.”

“(Y/n)?” Nikki closed his eyes.  

“Nikki?” She asked softly. “Silly boy, what’s wrong?”

Nikki let out a smile, “I just had to hear your voice sweet girl.”

“I’m right here Nikki.” She whispered to him. “You know I love you, right?”

“I love you too,” Nikki took in a deep breath. “You going to be amazing Mrs. Sixx.”

“So are you Mr. Sixx.” She was smiling. “I have to finish getting ready and get bridal party pictures. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“I can’t wait,” he looked at the guys who all let out breaths of relief. “Hey (Y/n)?”

“Yeah Nikki?”

“You’ve made me the happiest man alive,” he smiled and felt his eyes water. She reached through the opening in the door and squeeze his hand.

“I love you so much Nikki.” She told him softly. “You’ve made me happier than I’ve been in a long, long time.”

“Love you sweet girl,” he bent down and kissed her hand. She reluctantly let go and headed back to the bridal room. The groom and groomsmen were called out first for a photoshoot. There were serious poses, but lots of goofy ones. It was Motley Crue after all.

Mick looked at Nikki, “Feel better?”

“Much.” Nikki relaxed. His shoulders were relaxed and he looked carefree.

“Dudes, we need to move the bridal party is on it’s way and my aunts want us ready for the ceremony,” Tommy smiled.

“They’re pushy.” Vince sighed. “Glad they’re not my aunts.” They headed out towards the beach. The water shimmered beautifully. There were lights up like how (Y/n) wanted, and the whole thing just looked perfect. All Nikki was missing now was his bride.

Forever Tags: @anathewierdo @dekahg @marvel-af-imagines @feelmyroarrrr @nanie5 @imboredsueme @gemini0410 @aiaranradnay @babypink224221 @mogarukes @xxwarhawk @sandlee44 @shatteredabby @caswinchester2000 @supernaturalwincestsblog @lauravic @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk @teller258316 @horrorpxnk @tommyleeownsme

Motley Crue Tags: @primal-screamer @waywardprincess666 @twistnet @saint-of-los-angeles @vader-kai @motleyfuckingcruee @sharon6713 @kawennote09 @2dead2function @nikkisixxwiththebass @iamtiber-andtiberismusic @jayprettymuchomw @charlyallise @you-know-im-a-dreamer @sweet-dreams-on-butterfly-wings @estxxmotley @arianareirg @the-normal-potato @nikki-sixxtynine @jjjjjjjoshdun @just-a-normal-fangirl18 @stella20131991 @tarahell @wowilovenikkisixx @i-want-to-shoot-myself @motleycrueee @sams-serialkiller-fetish @getbackhonkycatt @are-you-reddie54321 @flamencodiva @deacyduck @scarecrowmax @major-tom-is-a-junky @anyasthoughts @bandaids-not-groupies @ilovetomkeiferslips @kaitieskidmore1

Nikki Sixx Tags: @daisystuffsstuff @unknownoblivion @deakysblueoutfit @fandomshit6000 @sixx-mckagan

Too Young to Fall in Love Tags: @kingbouji3 @leximus98 @thekidbakerinthetardis @crystalbaby12 @shawnsstxtches @knockemdeadgirl @deansgirl1993 @haileynicoleseavey17

[ansgar-martinsson]

The Best Intentions - Part 27

It was too late.

He had neither meant for it to happen, nor expected it.

Not so soon after his return to Stockholm, not so soon after he came home. Not so soon after first hearing the name Joline Lindberg. Not so soon after the oozing, crusty-black scab from Faye’s rapier slash fell away from his wounded heart.

But it was too late. Too late and in that moment, he knew it. He knew it the moment he reached for her, the moment he drew her in, the moment his body meshed and melded with hers, the moment he took her with a gentle stroke, with a careful slide of his flesh into hers, with a lover’s embrace. He knew.

He knew it just the same way he knew how to breathe life into a Philip Glass sonata, how to create with a CAD program or a hammer. He knew it just the same way he understood his business, the way he could read his customers, the way he knew how to keep his employees happy and productive. He just knew.

But he’d not put words to it. Not yet. Not even in his mind, would he allow himself to admit to it. The ethereal ‘it’. That ‘it’ that meant his stomach would flutter and his heart would pound and his head would feel like a helium balloon in the very presence of her. That ‘it’ that would make his cock twitch with the very idea of her flesh. That ‘it’ that meant he would do anything, say anything, give anything just to keep her with him.

That ‘it’ that was now giving him the warmest, most tender delight in not just fucking, not just sex, but making love… truly and honestly making love to the woman in his arms, the woman in his bed, the woman in his life, the woman named Joline Lindberg.

Making love.

Love.

Love… Joline?

Could he? Did he?

And if that is what it was, would he give over to it? Would he give in to it, again? Better question: would she?

“Mmmm, come here,” he murmured, pulling gently on her opposite side. “I want to see your face. Come on top of me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please,” his voice was breathy, reedy, nearly a child like beg. “I need to see you. I need to look… to look at you.”

And he shifted and she shifted, and he found himself staring up into her deep, fathomless eyes. Her weight was a comfort around his body, an anchor for his restless spirit, a balm for his battered mind. His hands, nearly of their own accord, for his full attention was on her face, grasped her around the waist and lifted her. “Inside,” he whispered. “Put me back inside.”

Her gaze not leaving his, she reached between her legs and wrapped her fingers around him. He knew she’d taken him in, not so much from the sensation of her warm, soft flesh, but more from the look of pure bliss that melted over her features as she lowered herself down upon him.

His own muscles went slack, his eyes fluttered closed and open again, and his mouth dropped open upon a deep, guttural moan. “Mmmmm,” he hummed. “Just like that. Yes. Yes. Oh. Exactly like that.”

She’d rolled her hips to seat him deeper, and in doing so, bent forward, her hands flat on the mattress, framing his head, her breasts perking down in tempting mounds just in the reach of his mouth, her hair cascading in a thick, dark mass over her face to tickle his beard below. She moved on him, slowly, slowly, oh so slowly….

And Ansgar moved with her, just as languid in his caresses, just as fluid in his pulses, just as fervent in his searching kisses, just as… loving… in his touch. A touch that was amorous and delicate, fluttering and caressing over her heated skin with quiet fingertips. He reached up, palming back the curtain of her hair, parting it away from her face, sculpting a bright, pinkish blue halo of seraphic sunrise and cherubic city light around her head. He held the day-glow back, exposing the window of her very soul, the wings of her emotions, and he watched her. Watched. Watched for those tell-tale signs of her mutual desire, his effects upon her, her knowledge of him. He watched and studied and learned and extolled and revered…

… and, like the pilgrim that he was beneath her altar, he worshiped her.

“Oh, Joline. Beautiful Joline,” he praised, lifting his hips from the bed, pressing himself further, further, even further into her. His fingers curled inward, tightening his grip on her head, his vision fixed firmly upon her, his eyes to hers, grasping onto her gaze with a near preternatural strength until… until….

Until he could hold the heat of it no longer. Until his eyes squeezed shut, until every muscle in his face, every tissue in his body contracted and constricted, pulsated and throbbed in a cascade failure of control, a paroxysm of pleasure. “My… ah… ah… ah… oh! Joline!”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Ansgar shoved the gear shift of his Tesla into park at the very moment the clock on the display shifted from 11:59 AM to 12:00 PM. With a knowing smirk, he lit from the car, nearly jogging around the front, up the drive and to the door of the small house.

He found the doorbell with little problem, smiling at the sight of the red and yellow Dala Horse painted upon its cover, the surname “Lindberg” printed in matching Old Germanic lettering along the bottom. A mash of his finger on the cracked and faded button and he was met with an old-fashioned, satisfying “bing bong” from somewhere within the home.

He pressed the button a second time, shorter, then, and stood back, considering his reflection in the plate glass of the outer door. He ran his hands over his clothes - roll-sleeved and breast-pocketed light pink linen shirt, navy blue walking shorts, brown woven belt and tan boat shoes - through his hair - which he left looser, more casual, that day - and across his beard - which he’d trimmed to sharp-lined precision that morning after he’d returned Joline, upon her request, to the Opera House.

Hands shoved deep in his shorts pockets, he rolled up and back on the balls of his feet, waiting. He checked his watch, wiping the immense crystal of it against his shirt, annoyed by the slight smudge upon it, a smudge put there when he’d cleaned up the breakfast dishes that morning.

“You told me you were a hopeless cook,” Joline had teased, leaning on her cupped hands over the edge of the breakfast bar. “What the hell do you call that?” She’d pointed to the oven, where Ansgar had fetched out a cooking tray with two white ramekins, bubbling and baked to perfection - hot scrambled eggs, fresh rosemary and basil, cheese, butter, and ham cooked into a dish omelette and ready to serve. “That looks amazing and smells absolutely delicious.”

“It’s true. I am a hopless cook,” Ansgar had replied, resting the cookie sheet onto the granite counter. “I had nothing to do with it. Rosie made these last night and left them for me in the fridge. Left me specific instructions, step by step, on a sheet of paper, mind you, of how to cook them this morning.”

“How sweet of her,” Joline had drolled. “Handholding you through making my breakfast and all that. Did she tell you how to turn that thing on, and that you shouldn’t touch the inside when it’s hot?”

Ansgar had chuckled. “I know how to work the oven, darling. It’s just all the bits leading up to it that are completely baffling.”

“How brave of you to open up and admit that to me,” Joline had joked.

“I can keep nothing from you,” he’d said, leaning into her. He brushed the warm side of the oven mitt down her nose, smiling. “You should know that by now.”

Ansgar chuckled at the memory of it as he waited on the concrete stoop for her. His flesh stirred inwardly at the thought of her sitting there in his kitchen, her legs spread over the edge of the white leather bar stool, in her pink knickers and flesh coloured brassiere, of her dark hair loose and mussed upon her shoulders, her make up all but smudged off and her lips rather bruised. He smiled at the memory of his own body, wrapped in nothing but a white towel, how he had to sit with his torso tight against the table as he ate, his erection threatening to drop the towel where he sat.

He checked his watch again, and again, he pressed the button.

After Ansgar dropped her at the theatre with a kiss, a tickle and a promise to fetch her again in a few hours for the picnic, Joline put in a few hours work before returning home to change and check in on her mother. Joline had her girls in the marketing department throw together a handful of mailers and fliers for the Martinsson Construction clientele, in case the opportunity presented itself. She fancied the cover story, and if it got her a few more subscribers, it was worth the effort.

“You’re still in your knickers. Are you nervous?” her mother asked when she caught Joline yanking yet another outfit from the depths of her closet.

“Mama, what are you doing? Pacing my hall again?” Despite Joline’s reservations about going to the event in a personal capacity, she still needed to look equal parts House Manager for the theatre and the potential girlfriend of the CEO. Mistress, lover, fuckbuddy, newest toy, all titles that society deemed inappropriate, but that they all practiced. Society always needed a title (even if she and Ansgar both disliked them), so she’d don the girlfriend moniker for the sake of appearances.

“Making sure the varnish is still on the door,” her mother quipped, pointing at the closet door that Joline had opened and closed at least four dozen times.

“Tell your jokes. I think I may go mad.”

Emelie crossed the threshold of her daughter’s room and eased herself into a seated position on the foot of the bed amongst at least half the contents of the closet. Her back played her up, and Joline couldn’t help but notice the favor and attention given to the act of sitting. It worried her more than she’d ever admit or confront her mother with.

Joline often said when anyone asked of her mother’s condition that there were good days and there were bad days. She rarely spoke of the mediocre or stable days, and never in great detail. Save Elias. Elias lived through some of the brutally painful days when their mother could barely stand for the aches in her back and legs. Elias listened to Joline’s tears of terror that their mother might not live till morning for the bouts of vomiting.

Joline couldn’t share that family business with anyone but Elias. She wasn’t embarrassed by the progression of her mother’s disease, and didn’t resent her decision to move back to Sweden to care for her either. She was glad to do it, proud to be there when her best friend needed her. She merely didn’t utter the words because it would make time infinitely smaller, her borrowed time with her mother even shorter. Make the truth of it a reality, even more than the rounds of meds and constant surveillance.

It was a form of denial that Joline lived to keep her going day to day, to continue working at the opera house, to even date. If she let herself think about it, consider the real possibility of her mother’s fate, she’d shrivel like a raisin in the sun or cease to exist herself. Life without her mother wasn’t a life at all.

“Why the neurotic emptying of your closet?”

Joline threw a floral print summer dress into the pile of ‘possibility but not really feeling it.’ She blew out an exasperated breath. “What the fuck do I know about corporate functions?”

Emelie smiled a closed mouth grin. “Do what I did when your father took me, fake it. Fake it till it hurts. Then do something entirely scandalous when you get a minute alone with your… date.”

“Mother!”

“Your partner? Date… whatever he is. You do nothing different than when you do your theatre hoity-toity gigs.”

“That’s business.”

“So is this,” Emilie pointed out sagely, “Just not your business.”

Joline flung her closet door open again, hoping an option would jump out at her and scream, ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ Instead everything hung lifelessly in her closet looking utterly drab and inappropriate. She sighed dejectedly. “I’ve turned into her… one of those girls that fusses about every detail.”

Emelie curled her arms around each other and rested them under breasts. “Jojo, you can be as girly as you need to be… no judgement here. I won’t spill.”

Joline sighed and glanced at the clock on her mobile that rested on the chest of drawers. Too little time…

“Daughter,” her mother intoned cautiously, “I hate to be that mother, but I’m going to be this one time.”

The younger Lindberg woman turned to her mother, drawn in by the concern she heard there. “Is he good to you?”

The question caught her off guard and unprepared for answering. The instant attraction between her and Ansgar and the subsequent time spent in each other’s company felt too new, almost unstable to tell anyone else about. Even her best friend. She needed to sort herself before she could explain to anyone else… at least until her mother confronted her. “By all appearances, we shouldn’t work, mama. I know that. He’s everything I thought I didn’t want. An executive. A celebrity by Stockholm standards. Arrogant, assertive arsehole.”

“I swoon at the thought, dearest.”

“And yet, there’s a generosity to him, a willingness to help, and he’s brilliant.” She shivered as her mind played back another intimate moment she shared with Sgar, when her body sank onto him and bliss of their gentle joining stalled her heart. “He’s good to me. At least he’s trying to be.”

Hardly the typical mother, Emelie stepped into that role with surprising ease when it came to her youngest. She’d read the gossip columns about Ansgar Martinsson, his estranged wife, and suspect incident regarding another former employee of Martinsson Construction. She wasn’t one to believe gossip, but the overwhelming amount of it surrounding the owner and CEO gave her pause.

The love bites she caught sight of on her daughter didn’t help endear him to her either.

*~*~*~*~*~

“Shit!” Joline cursed when she heard the bell ring at the front door. She tucked in her long-sleeved white blouse, leaving the tops buttons undone, into a cream and blue diamond linen skirt. She shoved her feet into pale blue heels and roughly combed her fingers through her loose hair to get it to behave.

“Your chariot is a tesla,” her mother muttered from the hallway where she hovered. “Well, fuck me…” she blew out on a whistle.

“Mama!”

“Don’t blame me! I didn’t think Teslas could run on the working class oxygen that we store out here.”

Joline grabbed her clutch, a pair of earrings, a ring to put on her finger and an extra lipstick before she breezed past her mother to the stairs. She left a peck on her cheek and instructions to take it easy. She sidestepped down the steps as the bell sounded once more. Breathlessly, she got to the door and glanced up the stairs to make sure her mother was out of sight. She opened the door a wedge and squeezed herself out the smallest gap she could, closing the door behind her.

“I kept you waiting, I’m sorry,” she tried to sound carefree, but she didn’t feel it. All six foot two of Ansgar stood tall and proud in front of her house, feet from her mother, and she thought she might faint. Dizzy with nerves, she kissed him quickly and began to lead him towards his car. “Time got away from me.”

“Slow down, darling,” he stated calmly, catching her arm and tugging her back to him. “We’re in no rush,” he purred, petting his hands over her hair. “You look… incredible.”

Joline felt him entwine his fingers with hers and urged her into his embrace. “Sgar, the neighbors will talk.”

“Then let’s give them something to discuss, at length.” He cupped her cheeks between his hands and brought her lips to his for a long engaged kiss. The passion in his kiss was enough to melt the iron of the little mail slots on all the doors of the neighborhood. “I’ve been anxious for that,” he murmured against her lips.

“You look good too,” she said dumbly, a delayed response, her senses melted at her feet on the path between her front door and the street.

Ansgar led her to the car, opened th e door for her and offered her a hand to guide her into soft, soft, silky smooth leather bucket seats. The new car smell assaulted her nose, and nearly knocked her out from sensory overload. Ansgar’s kiss, heady and sensual, his car, sinful and decadent, the leather, sexy and luxurious.  

He closed the door when she was safely inside and stepped around to the driver’s side, folding himself into the bucket seat. He took her hand again, once he’d pulled away from the kerb. Traffic moved freely as they inched along to the park entrance.

“So partner….” She began.

“Partner is it?”

“When your tongue isn’t in my mouth, kissing me stupid.”

He laughed, bringing her hand to his lips, his eyes on the road ahead.

“I reviewed all the designs from last season, and I think I found where the plans were changed and the bulbs were all switched around. The lighting designer from last season was asked not to come back… this was before I was brought on. Seems he left a parting gift,” she explained in as few words as possible. She knew the name well enough, as the short-tempered Welch man had left a lot of her crew sour. “But I might still have a sympathizer among my ranks. I may need to borrow your eyes next week, when we start load-in.”

[roselyn-ravenblade]

{Rp between myself and @asharinhun. This would take place retroactively around February this year. Thank you for reading if you do! }

"If you'd like, I can teach you about what I know of root-related druid magic and even demonstrate it." Asharin offered as he sat down on Rose's left side so she could focus on him with her working eye with ease. "We would need to go further into Elwynn, though."

Roselyn sat, the bump on a log she usually was at her stool, but at last she was made to shift a little to make room for the druid. Hesitancy was written in her posture, though it could have stemmed from the bandaged eye that took all it’s time in the world to heal. She could touch the blackened eyelid without much pain now, and she was thankful she still had her eyesight, but it looked horrible. And she certainly didn’t want another lasting reason to earn a stare from random passerby in the city.

The working eye settled on Asharin with a level of doubt. The single amber eye was her prettiest feature if she had one, the color of warmed honey. “Do you think you can? With me like…this?”

The artist furrowed her brow. “If…I have to change into a tree or something first I… ehm…I dunno if I can do that.”

“I don’t see why we can’t give it a try. At worst case the way I was taught, which is what I will try to teach you, won’t work. But don’t worry, we will do it step by step.” Asha explained, putting a hand on her shoulder. “ I don’t expect you to call upon the tree roots on your first attempt, but if you do, that’s good as well. We won’t know until you try it.”

The druid chuckled as Rose said those words. “No, no, that’s not necessary at all. Some druids I know could actually turn into trees, but I don’t have that skill either.” He stood, looking into Rosalyn’s working eye and offered her a hand.

“I know an ideal spot not far from the city gates. It’s a small clearing between a ring of trees. We won’t be disturbed there.”

Still as oak as the druid lay his hand on her shoulder, Roselyn picked at her lip as she seemed to consider moving from her post. A decade seemed to pass in that awkward silence as she stared up at Asharin. And...the night elf in turn stared back down at her. There were too many questions she didn’t know how to arrive to, all a jumble of fractured concerns she had that short-fired in a mental kaleidoscope of imagery without words.

“Ehm…okay then.” She finally mumbled out on a sigh, a passive smile, force focusing on the trusted face she came to know. “…can…lead the way.”

Asharin smiled softly upon hearing Rose’s decision. While he had no knowledge of how the younger races trained their druids, the first steps were always the basics and he was lucky enough to receive good care himself when learning those, the memories still fresh in his mind despite the few thousands years since he received them. According to his estimations, Roselyn was actually already able to understand nature to a degree, she just didn’t realise it yet.

The pair made it back to the other bank of the lake without mishaps, Asha helping Rose out of the small boat upon arriving.

“Getting there would be quicker with a mount, so… did you ever ride a nightsaber before?” He asked with a chuckle. “If not, no time like the present, ehh?” The night elf took a few steps away from her before shapeshifting, turning into a big sabertooth panther and lowered hismelf so Rose could mount more easily.

“Come on, I don’t bite.” The big cat purred, his voice a lot deeper and a bit harder to understand thanks to the animal form.

"Ohh, heh..." Rose murmured as her eyes wandered all over the transformed Asharin with some wordless awe. Though she took a step forward as the great cat lowered himself, the amber eyes that were on him were seeing something else as they were caught up seemingly in memory.

"I...I think I may've rode with a Druid b'fore? But I was...I was a bit...ehm, not...awake?" She drew in a breath and sighed it out slowly, trying to not be brought down by the kindly druidess that she had woken to in a feverish blur in Darnassus after the fall of Greymane's Wall. It was a motherly voice she'd never hear again, a nameless face she’d forever regret never knowing more of.

"Can't really remember..." a hand pressed gingerly into the nightsaber's fur, watching each fingertip get lost in the softness. "Been a while since I really rode...anything, ehm..." 

She suddenly was self conscious of her huskiness. She was not exactly a skinny girl, and felt awkward for it, like contemplating whether she'd look silly riding on the elegance of a prettily painted carousel horse. "...are you sure?"

"No matter either way. While I'm not likely not as comfortable as a real nightsaber mount, since no saddle or such things, I can guarantee I won't drop you off... unless absolutely necessary." The giant cat rumbled in mirth.

 "Hey now, don't give me that look. Last time I tossed an elf from my back to save her from an attack. Since we don't have to worry about such things here, don't worry." He quickly explained at the look of Rose's working eye.

"Of course I'm sure. Some druids are capable of giving lifts to other people in their flight forms. I'm one such, so just mount up. I may not necessarily look it, but I'm not weak physically either." Asha paused before adding "You're lucky I'm not a horse, with your temporary lack of depth perception, getting on one would be a lot more difficult than mounting me."

"If that's an extra incentive, I might have something for that swollen shut eye of yours once we get there. I won't make any promises, but it's more tempting now, isn't it?"

"Right, right.." Rose murmured quickly. "I'll do it just....let's just..stop talking about me mounting you before words start sounding even more 'orrible, okay?" Patting her eyepatch in place, she seemed to consider where she was putting her sketchbook in the interim, finally deciding to tuck it away in her carpenter bag. This in turn was tucked into a small hollow in the tree she painted at, the grass tall enough to hide the small entry.

The little effort of earthly magic had caused beads of sweat at Rose's brow, and a little bit of a pant, as if she'd ran herself in a brusque pace around the little fishing isle in several laps before trying to pull herself up on Asharin's hide.

She'd started with a knee first, and unlike trying to huff and puff with a horse pulling herself up into its stirrups and saddle, the nightsaber form was much more convenient. 

"Okay. Just...can we go slow at first? Just...you know. T'make sure I don't slip off and...so I know what to grab b'fore you bolt off?"

"Alright, alright, don't take it so seriously. Think of it as me carrying you to save some time." The panther rumbled in reply, lowering himself to the perfect height so Rose could just slip on without too much effort.

"Of course, don't worry. It's not like I'm just going to dash away mindlessly. You forget I'm a big cat only in shape." Asha wanted to laugh if he could, sadly that wasn't possible while shapeshifted so he purred once. "Just grab into my fur. You won't fall off." With that, he took off the moment she was settled and holding onto him, his speed little more than a walk so she couldn't make a complaint.

They traveled through the city without issue, barely anyone giving a glance either at Rose's bandaged eye or the fact she was bareback riding on a large, black sabertooth panther. 

About ten minutes later they reached the clearing in Elwynn which Asha thought would be the ideal location. "We arrived, this is it. Now the ride wasn't that bad, was it?" He asked before lowering hismelf again to let her dismount before returnign to his elven form. "What do you think, does the scenery match with what you imagined it would be like?"

All of Roselyn's insecurities seemed to melt away as soon as the Druid embarked, a certain nostalgia in riding again. It was not the familiar clop of horse's hooves, but the ebb and flow of the Nightsaber's sinuous movements as he moved was something that had her smiling. 

She quickly removed herself from the druid as they arrived at their destination, though truth be told she wanted of all things to ride all over Elwynn at gradually faster paced. "Oh...aheh...no, it was...ehm...it was good." The words didn’t match the good feeling she felt at all, but Rose seemed more energetic, brighter of face. 

"Oh..it’s pretty," she murmured as she let herself eye the surroundings. "Its...heh....like a bigger lake. Thing."

Asharin chuckled, the expression on Rose's face told him what her words couldn't. "It's a good thing you enjoyed the ride, since most of the time I will bring you here for the training like that. Though you can walk too if you prefer that, but that would take a lot longer to arrive here."

The druid gently shook his head while Roselyn was looking around, he'll need to work on Rose's conversation skills too, but one step at a time. "You'll have time to look around more later, once the training for today is over. But first things first."

"Remove the bandage from your swollen shut eye, no one will stare at you here and I need to see if the poultice I have can improve on it or not." The kaldorei pulled out a small case from one of the pouches on his belt as he asked.

Rose peered through her good eye on Ash, watching as he pried something from his belt. She nodded a little, and began to slip off the strip of bandage around her head. Though the bruising that once colored it seemed to have lightened and returned the eye to it's normal shade, indentations of where the stolen easel had cut still scarred just above the eye, beneath the eyebrow dangerously close to having blinded Rose. She'd been quite lucky, if not so lucky to be robbed in the first place.

Asha looked at the shut eye intently for a bit, sighing. "You had lady luck with you, that's for sure. A few inches lower and that scar would be across your eye, not above it... Actually, it doesn't look that bad." The druid tried to put on an encouraging smile, the swelling still sealed Rose's eye tightly. He applied the poultice as gently as he could, sorry for the discomfort and pain he caused as he carefully massaged it onto the eyelid and the area.

"Alright, that's done, it should dry in 15 minutes or so, but it should work faster if you let it breathe so just keep it uncovered during your time here." The druid put the case away for now and asked Roselyn to follow him.

 "Alright, we are going to start the training now. Take off your shoes and stockings first, it should help you feel closer to nature itself." Asharin himself actually didn't learn it like this, his natural talent and affinity making these minor things meaningless for him. "Once that's done, just take a seat comfortably and relax. Just empty your mind, don't try to focus on anything, just relax."

Peering down at her feet, Rose settled down into the grass and began to remove her bootlettes, worn with no socks. Digging her toes into the grass for the comfort of the soil just as much as she hoped to stifle the stench she thought she smelled coming from them, Rose...sat, staring up  with a little skeptical wince at the Druid.

"...you...want for me t' empty my mind and...just relax? I think'f I do too much of that I'll just sort've...fall asleep."

"If you want, I can put away that bandage into one of my pouches and give it back once the training is over, or I can apply a fresh one. I always have a roll or two with me for first aid." The druid offered with a smile. "And don't worry too much, you will definitely be able to open that eye again eventually."

"To be honest with you, that outcome was well within my expectations." Asharin chuckled as well, patting Rose's head as if she was one of his daughters. "And it's a completely fine and reasonable result, too. You need to learn to relax and empty your mind so you can feel your surroundings, but as easy as that sounds, it also needs practice to acquire and master. You might fall asleep initially, but your body will get used to it shortly." Not to mention that while sleeping, she could eventually have access to the Emerald Dream as all druids, but that knowledge was too advanced for Rose's current level.

"Mmmkay." Rose nodded and scooted a bit in place until she was comfortable on her rump. She bothered a lot with where she was positioning her arms, in the grass, or hanging off her thighs. Eventually she thought to just busy them, idly picking at blades of grass to wrap inside the bandage. "I...ehm...don't know how it's going t'be. Trying t'empty my mind. It's sort've always...going. I don't say a lot but...there's a lot I think? And...well." Her eyes swept around the forest area clearing, holding her wry, close-lipped smile ."Everything speaks. And you're sort've...looking. So I dunno..."

There was a wince into her question. "How do you do it?"

Asha at first just watched as she tried to find a comfortable position, but her words both surprised and pleased him. "You are already a better student than many I've seen over the years when I occasionally returned to Moonglade. They kept trying to follow their teachers' instructions, and only after days spent would the quicker ones mention what you just did."

"Yes, it is hard to empty one's mind completely. A slightly easier step is only to focus on just a small number of things, then eventually to one thing before attempting not to focus." He looked deeply into  Rose's working eye. "Well, you are my student, where should I look if not on you, winking young lady." The druid added with a chuckle and patted her head gently again. "And you said another truth. Nature indeed speaks. If you can already pick on some of it withotu any training, I have less to teach than I thought."

"Try to focus on the forest, on the trees. Try to sense the steady growth of leaves, the branches and roots. Don't try to understand it, for they have a timeless wisdom of their own, just listen."

Closing her eyes, it was easy to let herself concentrate once she was guided there, forming her mind to focus on one thought, like starting the lines of a single art piece. And it began as feathering lines of the silver-blue bushels of Silverleaf, imagining the feel of and sound of the leaves in hand.

...slowly, as Rose concentrated, silver-blue leaves began to grow out of her mahogany hair.

"Go ahead. And don't forget, this is just your first time, so take it slowly. Like in nature, growth comes with time and experience." The kaldorei continued to talk to her, his voice becoming a soothing background sound, but also a clear link to Roselyn as she started to focus more and more,.

Asha truly expected her to fall asleep, hence the surprise when the leaves started to show up from her hair was enough to make him gasp. Quickly he utilized his own sense to check on them, exhaling in relief as they were benign and meant no harm to his pupil, merely the results of her concentration and effort.

"Alright, that's enough for now, come back, Rose. Come back, and open your eye slowly." As she blinked her one working eye open, one of the leaves actually half-covered her injured shut eye, making the druid chuckle. "That was really good. Did you focus on Silverleaf, by any chance?" He wondered when will she notice the leaves.

Rose's single eye blinked open, the bruised lid of her opposite eye beneath its pad wriggling to reflexively try and do the same. She winced so slightly with the slow, small ache as an affect. "How-ow- did you know? Ohfffhlpltbhht...!" The large silver-blue leaf that had curled down over her face was huffed  into Rose's mouth with her moment of surprise, leaving her sputtering. Silverleaf smelt lovely, but raw...it wasn't particularly tasty to human taste buds.

Asha burst into laughter as Rose spluttered before pulling the silverleaf out of Rose's mouth. "I'm sorry for laughing, but it was a bit funny... and I think now you know how i managed to guess the object of your focus. Actually, your hair is full of it. I know that druids are capable of making plantlife grow faster, but I didn't expect to see all these leaves showing up in your hair, out of seemingly nowhere. Did you have seeds with you?"

"In my pockets?" Rose answered quizically after she was sure the leaves weren't sprouting out of innocuous places anymore, shaking her frizzy brown hair free just in case. "Couldn't quite tell you how they got up there though... "

"I see. Well, helping things grow is one of the many abilities a druid can master and it seems you have an affinity for it." Asha smiled, patting Rose's head. 

"You did truly well for our first lesson. For that, I have an offer you might like. Just uncover your shut eye as well, even if you can't open it, the wind will feel nice." 

Asharin waited until Roselyn did so, looking at him awkwardly with her one good eye and the swollen shut lid of the other. He suddenly shapeshifted and before her stood a giant stormcrow. "Mount up, I'll take you for a ride." Those were not words but Rose could clearly understand it.

The young would-be Druid stared on the sudden transformed Asharin, her mouth drawn into a small ‘o’ of surprise. She’d seen Stormcrows, but never one quite so big. 

...how did one ride a bird anyway?

It wasn’t much of an argument to be made. A few minutes later, a giant Stormcrow could be seen sailing over Elwynn Forest’s canopy, much to the delight of its rider.  

Stormcrows would be a small obsession to sketch by in the coming days.

[imagine-loki]

Irked

Title: Irked

Author: lokilover9 Chapter: #21 Rating:Teen Warning: Mention of tragic death.

Loki and Shandi grew steadily uneasy, as the ladies revealed more disturbing things about Tanya. She’d perpetrated torrid affairs with Rachel’s, husband and Judy’s daughter, Dahlias. The two had been close friends since childhood and supported each other, during their divorces. After Rachel’s ex lost almost everything in theirs, Tanya abruptly dumped him and the idiot blamed Rachel for ruining his life. Out of spite, he kidnapped Cassie, then dumped the poor child at her doorstep months later before disappearing again. While Cassie was missing, Tanya verbally threatened to report Rachel had somehow murdered the child in an attempt to blackmail her out of money. According to Judy, Rachel was never able to record the threats, as Tanya had mastered the art of stealth. When the attempts failed however, the police received an anonymous tip and Rachel’s life was flipped upside down. She’d stayed with Dahlia throughout and when about town together, they’d often spot Tanya, eyeing Rachel from a distance with a sly grin. Then one day, Rachel was alone, putting groceries in her hatch, when Tanya strolled by behind her and quietly stated. ‘I warned you, ‘bitch.’’ Knowing Scott wouldn’t believe her, she never reported it.

Judy’s son in law was serving twenty, for fraud at Tanya’s hand and had lost all visitation rights to her grandson, Dylan. Others in town spoke of intimidation attempts, through slapping, shoving, light kicking, insults and name calling. All towards wives, or girlfriends of love interests. Those remained unreported too, as without witnesses, it was pointless. Some with means, had moved distances away. Sold homes, abandoned established lives and jobs to escape her bullshit. Yet Tanya wisely steered clear of ever assaulting, or threatening Dahlia, knowing Judy would go for the throat. At fourteen, Tanya had vandalized her bakery with another kid. Unbeknownst to them, a vacationing prison warden and his parole officer wife, witnessed the incident and called it in. With Tanya’s reputation for other unpunished vandalism, Judy had no qualms pressing charges. This earned Scotts angel a juvenile record and she’d despised Judy ever since.

What was raising serious concerns for Shandi amongst the ladies, involved an incident that occurred a year afterwards. Tanya had had a strong love interest in high school, named Jordan. He’d never reciprocated, yet even as he dated another, she persisted until his and Candace’s parents grew concerned and involved Scott. With the young man’s father being the principal then, Tanya was forced to relent, found another and appeared happy. When news spread Candace was pregnant, Tanya actually wished her well, but soon became depressed and oddly reclusive. Candace had a part time job only a short walking distance from her home, then. A walk she enjoyed, according to family and friends. Three months later, she left after an evening shift and called the father. While she passed through a well traveled, dimly lit parkette, last thing he heard was her skull being fractured. The assailant and weapon remain a mystery and no one was surprised, when Tanya had a perfect alibi.

Loki frowned and Shandi swallowed to conceal the rising lump in her throat. “Did Candace survive?”

“By morning, she’d slipped into a coma.” Said Judy. “Eventually, when pronounced brain dead, the parents kept her alive until the baby was born. After the funeral, they moved away and soon Jordan’s family, followed.”

“Yeah.” Beth sighed. “All except poor old, Gordy.”

“Gordy?” Inquired Loki.

“Jordan’s grandfather. He’s stayed in hopes of seeing Justice. Talks about little Julia every time we see him, too. Candace chose the name. She was a sweet kid.”

The couple were beyond appalled, until Alice divulged one last thing. For six months prior to Tanya’s most recent absence, it was rumored her and Shamus were having an affair. He vehemently denied it, but when she showed up at their door one day while Alice was home alone, claiming to be pregnant, the scandal almost cost the couple a divorce. A restraining order was filed, Tanya abruptly left town and was only permitted back, under the watchful eye of Scott.

Shandi, shook her head. “Has she ever been charged with stalking?”

“Not to our knowledge.” Said Alice. “Suspected of it? Numerous times. Please understand, I hadn’t lied proclaiming this a great place to live. We were hoping Tanya wouldn’t return.”

A timer suddenly rang in the kitchen, reminding the ladies of their impending duties. Beth and Alice politely excused themselves, Judy loaded the couple up with some goodies and they left.

Once inside the car, Loki became serious and gently took hold of Shandis jaw. “From this moment on, you shall not leave mine, nor our partners sights when in public. Not even for a minute. That includes being escorted to all restrooms. Understood?”

Although startled by his slightly authoritative tone, the concern in his eyes, tempted her so desperately to kiss him. “I..I won’t, Loki.” She softly, replied.

With a nod of acknowledgement, he gathered himself and started the engine. Shandi slid into a deep pensiveness, as everything they’d learned began to click and caught Lokis attention with something she muttered.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Tanya’s a sociopath. Her IQ, must border brilliance.”

“That’s questionable if under the terms of her return, she’d risk such behavior as today’s.”

“No, Loki. I studied psychology indepthly in college. Scotts aid aside, that’s how she’s gotten away with everything for so long. Today, is a perfect example. Think about it. Who’s going to carry bags of duct tape into a bakery, if they can leave them in their car? No one. She must’ve parked extremely close, shoved a roll into her purse, speedily made a note for the bathroom door, then left her car as we entered.”

“Carry on.”

“Judy assumed Tanya saw me go downstairs, through the window. Why?”

��She never saw her inside.”

“Exactly, Nor did Alice. I went down directly after entering when we still hadn’t noticed her, either. Then she slipped by Judy’s customers, undetected. It took her seconds from pulling up to that bakery, to conjure her intentions, orchestrate every move to succeed and time them perfectly. That requires brilliance.”

Loki wasn’t impressed. “It won’t happen happen again.” ***** When Tony heard everything, he too expressed much concern for Shandi, but she promised to oblige Loki’s request. “How’s Pepper?”

“Been better. She’s resting after an ugly hurling session. Cursed me throughout. Maybe it’s a prelude to childbirth. Yikes.”

Shandi chuckled. “Do you think S.H.I.E.L.D could get access to Tanya’s medical records? She must’ve had a psychiatric assessment done, at some point.”

“Yes. I’ll also have them investigate that juvie record, too. Maybe there’s more the ladies aren’t aware of. And Cactus?”

“Don’t worry, Tin Man. I’ll keep her safe.”

After their call ended, Shandi put her phone down and eyed Lokis. “You call to inform Nat and Clint. The story is, mines dead and I’m in the shower.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see.” She walked off.

“Where are you going?”

“To have a shower.”

An hour later, she saw Loki swimming, put on her headphones and started dusting the main floor. “Might as well do something to keep myself busy.”

He came in, heard her humming and followed it to the entertainment room. She was on her hands and knees, ass perched in the air, reaching beneath a shelf with the duster. ‘Interesting view, Pet.’ She shifted and he moved from her sights. Recognizing the tune as Night and Day, Nat was right. Shandi listened to it over and over, while working about the room.

“Man, this place needs an in depth cleaning.” She commented, finally changing the song. “Oooh. Haven’t heard this one in a while.”

It wasn’t familiar to Loki, but he didn’t care. Shandi got right into it, seductively swaying and grinding her hips, moving her arms about, biting her bottom lip while sliding a hand down her abdomen, the other behind her head. ‘Very nice. I could grow accustomed to this.’

Then she started singing.

…“Handcuffs can ya get freaky..how far would you go to please me..whips and chains girl, are you tied with that…

A salacious grin formed on Loki’s face.

…“Strange places searching for pleasure..I want you to meet me wherever..wearing just an overcoat and hat… …It just feels like..you’re too uptight..girl you’re too conservative..and that ain’t how I wanna live..I want a freaky girl..somebody just like me..a very naughty girl, that’s what I need…

‘Oh my. I wonder how naughty you can actually be?’ He waited until she wasn’t looking, then leaned into the doorway.

With another grind of her hips, Shandi jumped out of her skin, pulling an ear piece out and the duster went flying “LOKI!”

He laughed as her face turned scarlet. “Do you always dance so provocatively? If so, I’ll have to sneak up on you more often.”

‘Oh lord.’ How long have you been watching?”

“Long enough to enjoy it.”

“What?”

“Listen, you owed me. I was subjected to quite an earful from Nat. She threatened my life, if I don’t watch over you better.”

Shandi chuckled. “I knew she’d be frazzled. Thanks for taking the brunt of it. I suppose we’re even.”

“Hang on, that call lasted almost thirty minutes. The pain in my ear, has yet to cease.”

“Oh brother.”

“Therefore, we aren’t even. A bit more of that dancing should do the trick.”

“Uh..hu.” Her arms crossed. “I’ve a trick for ya. Why don’t I stuff that duster up your nose and take your mind off one pain, by creating another?”

Loki gasped, with a hand to his chest. “Such violence thou threatens to bestow my person.”

She passed him for the library. “Consider it payback for feigning nakedness after your last swim, Shakespeare.”

“And here I thought myself being polite, returning your wine to the fridge. You’ve forgotten the duster, I’ll have you know.”

‘Dammit. I wouldn’t be so thoughtless, if you weren’t standing there, half naked.’ She passed him again. “Very funny. You were ‘being,’ a brat.”

Loki waited as she scanned the room, then held it up with an impish grin. “Looking for this?”

“See. Just like now.”

“Eh he he he.” He tossed it to her and walked off. “Interesting words, to that song. They matched your moves, quite well. I’ll be down shortly, to start dinner.” Loki went to relieve an erection skillfully hidden, beneath his towel. Not long after returning, Shandi sauntered into the kitchen. “Hello frightening wielder of domestic weaponry. May I service you?”

‘Damn, is he serious?’ “I uh..wondered if you might want some help.”

He smiled in a way that stole her breath, momentarily. “Certainly.”

She began cutting vegetables and soon asked why Judy had initially dismissed Tanya, from the bakery. As Loki explained, she grew a frown and scoffed. “No wonder Rachel called her Princess Evil.”

“You seem rather palpable in your distaste for her.”

“And you’re not?” She asked. “Even sociopaths know it’s wrong to hit on a married person.”

“True. I did find it rude, she placed her tits on the table.”

Shandi diced into an onion with such force, half rolled onto the floor. “She what?”

Lokis brow arched, in amusement. “My bad. Perhaps it’s unwise you keep wielding domestic weaponry, unless discussing a more appealing topic.”

“Pfft. It’s no biggy. It’s just..like you said. Rude. Very.” She kept dicing. “They never mentioned, Tanya’s mother. I wonder why?”

“I’m certain an opportunity to ask will present itself. Changing the subject, have you ever been on a boat?”

She shot him a curious glance. “I knew a family with a sailboat, once. Why?”

“We’ve a few days before the fair and there’s some excursions nearby. I thought to take one, if you wish.”

“Sounds, like fun. I’ll bet Nat and Clint would join us.”

“Perhaps.” Loki began preparing some meat. Speaking of families, you must miss yours in Canada.”

“Actually, they’re all here.”

“Very nice. Surely, they’re proud you’ve become an Avenger.”

She rinsed the prepared vegetables. “I hope so. The Avengers ‘are’ my family. They’re all I have.”

A pang of sadness shot through Loki. “Shandi, my apologies. I hadn’t a clue.”

“It’s okay. My father died in a motorcycle accident when I was three. I know nothing about him and can only assume my mother didn’t take it well. She wasn’t a happy person. We parted when I was seven and I became a foster child.” Loki appeared confused, so she explained. “It happens when a parent loses or relinquishes parental rights. Their child is put with a family willing to foster until they’re either adopted, or a parent‘s,’ proves themselves acceptable to regain custody. It’s all legally executed through the family courts and I remained fostered.”

“Might I ask why your mother lost her fight?”

“There wasn’t one. She disappeared after… I learned much later, she’d a heroin addiction which hinted towards why.”

The minute hint of sadness in her eyes, where one halts exposing a wound unwise to even recall, hadn’t gone unnoticed. Yet with self assurance in demeanor and tone, Shandi instantly rose above it. What surprised Loki, was how gratifying that felt to witness and how she were orphaned, like him. “How were you never considered for adoption?”

“I almost was, by the family who owned the sailboat. Between the ages of seven and eighteen, I lived with five families in total.”

“Norns Shandi, why? You’re a lovely woman, certainly you were so as a child.”

She blushed at his unexpected compliment. “Thanks, but others didn’t agree. Regardless of only using my telekinesis to defend myself, it deemed me a ‘problem’ child. One with anger and disobedience issues. After the first incident, my social worker advised I keep it secret to better my chances of adoption. Following the second, I was transferred to a completely different city. It was then, I knew I’d never be adopted.”

Loki poured them each a glass of wine. “How so?”

“The second worker thought my ability, monstrous. Called me one, secretly to my face. Threatened should I use it again, I’d be sent to a children’s psychiatric facility for those deemed insane. Luckily she retired before the need arose, but each time it were discovered, I’d be quickly moved along. Anyway, I’m uncertain what possessed me to reveal all this. I must be boring you to death.”

This time her eyes expressed disbelief only, widening Loki’s curiosity of what worse she’d endured, to cause such a profound hurt. Although plagued by his own family dynamics, being repeatedly moved from one to another, seemed unfathomable. How unwanted, alone and frightened she must’ve endlessly felt. Aware the disadvantage of dwelling on painful memories, Loki thwarted any further questioning. “You couldn’t bore me and are certainly not a monster. Obviously, plentiful courage, strength and intelligence were required, to have persevered such hardships. Particularly, as a child. Yet regardless, you excelled. Others opinions aside Shandi, be proud of ‘yourself.’ You’ve earned it.”

Shandi didn’t require validation to appreciate herself. She’d grasped being truly alone a long time ago and miraculously learned to deflect life’s destruction attempts. Still, hearing affirmation of that from Loki, felt strangely amazing. ‘I don’t understand. Who is this person?’ To hide the recurring flush in her cheeks, she approached a window and peaked out the blinds. “Thank you, again. I am proud and love my new life.” Suddenly, a soft gasp escaped her. “Oh, look at them all. They’re adorable.”

“Spotted the hummingbirds, have you?” He could see their tiny shadows moving about.

“Yes. When did you put the feeder out?”

“This morning. There’s two. I bought them, shopping with Clint.”

“I’ve always loved those little Critters.”

Loki didn’t know this, but had recalled her observing some during Tony’s tour of the grounds. “Glad you approve.”

She sighed when they dispersed. “Their little wings flutter thirty to fifty times, per second. It would be amazing to see one up close, watch it land.”

When re approaching the island, Loki gestured behind her. “Like that?”

She turned to see a hummingbird on the table, perched upon the edge of a tiny nest. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“It’s an illusion, but sit and become acquainted.”

Shandi did with the same childlike bliss, when he’d first seen her touch peonies. “This is a ruby-throated, male. Most common, for this geographical zone. I remember from a project, in high school.”

Loki thought of Frigga, then. How she loved her garden and the many birds that frequented it. As a child, he’d cherished the hours they’d secretly spent there, reading and practicing bits of magic. Considering the amount of anguish Shandi had experienced, he found it incredible her heart remained so unmarred. When the tiny bird tilted its head up, Loki slowly lowered his glass, observing Shandis wonder and enlightened smile. ‘Valhalla help me, should I risk loving again.’

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

War and The Thief

A belated birthday fic for @newyorkcitydreaming. Hope this makes up for the long delay!

AO3

              People assumed the gods existed in some other plane, only rarely coming into the mortal world to use their will. There was a truth to that belief. However, the gods spent nearly all of their time walking amongst man. Some of them blended into human society as ordinary people, making sure to never be too obvious. Others walked with the world invisibly, unable or unwilling to join the world. All of them exercised their powers when they were needed in the world, as well as on some occasions when it wasn’t really needed.

              She was the daughter of the god of law, her elder sister the goddess of justice. Everyone expected that she would have power in a similar domain. It was years of having no idea of her position before Sara encountered the dark forces that had reigned in the world before the gods came to be. Her escape from them lead to her discovery that she was the goddess of war. After this, she began to travel the world of man more frequently, following conflicts and guiding their outcomes as she deemed appropriate. For the most part, it was rare for her to come into contact with any of the other gods unless a soldier or army had gained their favor. Sometimes her sister was present behind some of the soldiers.

              It took nearly a millennia after the discovery of her belonging to meet him. At the time, she had only just slipped away from a battle ended by the thunder goddess shaking the Earth. Sara had never met Anissa before, but she enjoyed her company and hoped their paths would cross again sometime in the future. Not far from the battlefield, she discovered a soldier looting through the dead body of the man wearing the same colors as him. The very sight tempted the war goddess to call upon Anissa to see if she would be willing to help bring misfortune onto the thief.

“Such a pathetic thief.”

              Sara turned to see someone dressed in all black emerging from the shadows of a tree. She watched as he sauntered up beside her, his eyes locked on the thief. Once he stopped beside her, he twisted his head towards her and she knew he could see her. Given she was hiding herself from mortal eyes, he had to be a god.

“Robbing the living is one thing,” he sighed. “Stealing from the dead though, well-”

“It’s disrespectful,” Sara scoffed with disgust. “That soldier asked to be buried with his dead wife’s ring on him. Now this scoundrel is taking it for himself from someone he fought beside.”

The other god raised an eyebrow. “How do you know this?”

“I’m the goddess of war. Ever since this one began, I’ve been following different people in it. That dead soldier was one of them.”

“Yet you let him die without trying to save him. We might not be able to do bring them back from death, but we can heal even the gravest of injuries on mortals.”

Sara fixed him with a steely glare. “I can’t save everyone. War has casualties. It’s not clean. There’s only so much a goddess of war can do. But that doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”

“How rude of me not to introduce myself,” the other god smirked. “Leonard, god of thieves. I’ve come around to deal with this one.”

“I don’t plan on stopping you,” Sara stepped back. “Get on with it.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to make conversation,” Leonard replied.

Sara snorted. “Yeah, I could tell by the way you were staring at my ass.”

              There was no snappy reply, just an acknowledging smirk. Leonard then turned towards the thief, who was now pulling off the chain that held the ring on it. The god waved his hand, and the man screeched as the chain became too hot to hold onto. When he tried to grab it again with cloth over his hands, a wolf suddenly appeared on the path, growling at the thief. The sight of the animal sent him running with the wolf in pursuit after him. His fate now depended on how fast he would be able to run.

“Well,” Leonard exhaled as they were alone with the body once again. “This is where I take my leave. Maybe we’ll meet again someday though.”

“Maybe we will.”

He turned to leave, but then stopped. “I never did get your name though other than goddess of war.”

Sara smiled slightly. “If we ever met again, I’ll tell you it.”

“Then I’ll see you around.”

              With three steps forward, he vanished into the wind. Sara returned her gaze to her only company, the dead soldier. Bending down, she placed the chain on the soldier’s neck. The group he had been a part of would be lead back this way by her will. They would find the body and make sure their soldier received the proper burial he deserved.

~

              Years came and went as the human race grew and spread out further across the world. Sara kept watch over the wars and some other minor conflicts. Other gods and goddesses crossed paths with her all over the planet. She discovered friends among some of them while holding others at an arm’s length. During it all, she tried her hardest to seek out Leonard, asking the other immortals if they knew of the god of thieves. Many of them had heard of him or met him, although he didn’t seem to be held in extremely high favor.

              Finally, Sara’s path crossed with Leonard’s once again. She was traveling through a city, appearing completely normal for mortals. It had been a long time since the last war, although Sara had no problem with the somewhat more peaceful climate of the world. Walking down the streets and studying her surroundings reminded Sara what people did when there were no wars to be fought. Even though there was still violence, it was nothing on the scale that she had seen in wars.

              She discovered Leonard sitting on a bench in the park, one leg crossed over the other. Smiling to herself, Sara approached him and took a seat beside him. Leonard glanced over as she sat down. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“Hello, Leonard,” Sara greeted as she leaned back against the bench.

“Been a long time, goddess of war. Wasn’t sure if we’d ever met again.”

She shrugged. “Well, here we are. At least there’s no dead body between us this time.”

“True,” Leonard nodded. “So, do I finally get to hear what your name is?”

“How long have you been waiting to ask that?”

“Since the moment we started talking.”

“Sara,” she told him. “But I have a feeling you already knew that?”

The familiar smirk returned. “I might have asked around about you.”

“I know. Ray told me. So did Anissa.”

“Only one of those surprises me,” Leonard chuckled. “So what is the goddess of war doing here? Is there something coming?”

She shook her head. “No, not for a few decades. I decided to see some of the world that’s mostly at peace. I don’t want to see war constantly. Still, there’s always someone fighting for something out there.”

“I’ve never thought of it that way,” Leonard murmured. “Works the same way with thieves. People aren’t always after money. There’s property, people, love.”

Sara raised an eyebrow.

“Surely you remember Helen and Paris?”

“Hard to forget her,” Sara nodded. “Poor girl didn’t ask for that in her life. I’m glad Zari finally stepped up and did something to pull her out of that.”

“As am I.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Sara spoke again. “Do you have anywhere you need to be soon?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m in the mood for a drink here,” Sara told him, rising to her feet. “What do you say to joining me?”

He smiled and stood up. “I think I can make myself available.”

~

              Their paths crossed over and over more frequently after their second meeting. Leonard began to seek out Sara and she did the same with him. Together they witnessed history and walked among it. Things continued to evolve amidst the world of men. Wars grew in involvement and changed in weaponry. Thieves had to become smarter as security became more complicated. They each guided those involved to success or misery.

              One day, they were sought out by Anissa. The goddess had discovered a crack in the depths of the earth, one that she had not made. According to Gideon, the prison holding the dark forces was slowly starting to weaken, evidenced by the crack. If it grew any larger, the goddess of knowledge claimed it would let out the demons and nightmares to come back into the world of men.

“Why did you come to us then?” Leonard asked.

“I need someone to see if the crack can be sealed,” Anissa told them. “Neither of you have ever been able to resist a challenge, so I figured you might be willing to do it. And if anything gets out, then the two of you are strong enough to put up a good fight with it.”

“It’ll be more than a good fight,” Sara proclaimed. “It’ll be our victory.”

Anissa nodded. “I hope so.”

              She brought them to the opening of the cave that would lead them down into the tunnels where the crack was located. From there on, it would be Sara and Leonard to keep going on. As they made their way deeper into the cave, nothing came lunging out at them. The air did start to feel heavier, as it was carrying the darkness itself.

“Ready for this?” Sara asked, drawing out her staff as they got even closer.

“About as ready as I can be,” her partner replied.

              They crept around the corner to see a black crack splitting the rock of the tunnels. Darkness appeared to be leaking out of it like a fog. Something shifted out of the corner of Sara’s vision. She turned as Leonard shouted a warning and a black creature with red eyes, horns, and tusks leaped out at her. Sara rolled out of the way, reforming her staff into two swords.

“Seal the crack!” she yelled to Leonard as she dodged the creature again, slicing its side in the process.

              Sara had fought many things as the goddess of war, but she had not yet existed when the gods defeated the dark forces and banished them into a prison. Whatever this was, it had the strength and power close to a god, but not quite. All her attention was focused on subduing the creature since she was confident Leonard could seal the opening. Once she finally landed the killing blow, Leonard screamed behind her. Sara whirled around to see his hand stuck onto the crack and covered in a tar-like substance.

“Leonard!” she shouted, running over to him.

“Stay back,” he ordered, trying to free his hand. “One of these things nearly pulled me in. I can’t get free, but I can seal the crack.”

“That’s great. Do it now!”

Then she saw the look on the face and knew that it wasn’t going to be simple as that. It was the look soldiers got on their faces once they realized they were not going to survive the skirmish they had found themselves caught in. That they weren’t coming back home to the people who loved them.

“I can seal it,” Leonard told her. “But it’s going to take almost all my power. It’s worse that Anissa thought it was. Closing it could wipe me out of existence.”

“Let me help you then.”

“No,” Leonard shook his head. “Get out of here.”

“No!”

“Just do it.”

Sara stared up at him for a few seconds before stepping up to him. She pressed her lips against his, hoping it was not going to be the last kiss she shared with the god of thieves. Yet there was still the feeling of finality in it.

“Sara,” Leonard murmured. “You need to run.”

              That was what she did, and she didn’t stop until the entire tunnel shook violently. Rocks crashed down around her. Had Sara not been one of the gods, then she surely would have perished. As soon as the tremors ceased and she crawled out of the rocks, the goddess of war maneuvered her way back into the cavern where she and Leonard had been. The crack in the wall was now sealed shut, a streak of pale glittering rock marking where it had been. Lying on the ground beside it was the god of thieves, still as death.

              Sara picked her way over to him to sink down beside the god. All the color had left Leonard’s body. When Sara pressed her hand against his cheek, she could barely feel a thing. Gods were normally buzzing with life and power and energy and warmth. With Leonard, his power now felt like a dying ember that was running out of time.

She shook her head. This would not be the end. There had to be some way out there to save him, to restore him to his power. He didn’t deserve to fade away without anyone knowing what he had done down here.

Someone could bring him back, right?

~

              Sara searched high and low for a way to bring back the fallen god. There was only so much time she had left to save him, but that was dwindling quickly. Finally, Leonard’s sister came to her with a way to save Leonard. Apparently, the goddess of winter had something that would be able to bring Leonard back. As soon as Sara learned of this, she set out in search of her.

However, Caitlin was the one who discovered her.

“You want to save this god of thieves, huh?” she inquired as she appeared in a flurry of snowflakes through the window Sara had left open. “What for?”

“He sacrificed himself to stop the dark forces from reentering the world,” Sara shot back at her. “It could have been me, but he got stuck and sacrificed himself instead of letting me help.”

“Oh, but there’s something more though, isn’t there?” the other goddess said as she strolled around Leonard’s form. “Something emotional. No one searches like you have to bring someone back unless it’s for love.”

“And if it is?” Sara crossed her arms. “Look, I found out you could restore you. What do I need to do for you to bring him back?”

Caitlin arched an eyebrow. “Admit the truth about why you want him back, and I will do that. But I should warn you that when he comes back, there will be…changes.”

“What kind of changes?”

“He’ll no longer be the god of thieves. Instead, he shall become the god of ice. That’s the price to pay when you come to the goddess of winter for help. He might be colder, more closed off. Having such a chilly element to rule over changes you. Now tell me, is it still worth restoring him?”

Sara nodded.

“Then tell me what I want to hear, goddess of war.”

“I want him back because I love him,” Sara confessed. “I’d do the same thing if it was my father or my sister in this situation. He had people who miss him, like his sister, his best friend, and myself. He’s always been a survivor and that little bit left inside him still hanging on proves that. Leonard wants to live. So please, bring him back to us. Bring him back to me.”

Caitlin smiled and nodded her head approvingly. “That’s perfect. Now I will bring him back.”

              She brought out a pouch of something. Sara watched as she sprinkled an icy blue powder into Leonard’s mouth while murmuring in a language that she did not know. Once she finished the chant, a strange blue glow overtook the god’s body. Frost started to shoot up from Leonard’s fingertips to the rest of his body. His hair turned grayer and a cool mist left his lips. Seconds later, his eyes snapped open, the blue irises more piercing and intense than ever. The god of thieves had now reborn the god of ice.

“It is done,” Caitlin said as she stepped back and allowed Sara to come forward.

Leonard’s eyes focused on the goddess of war when she neared. “Sara?”

Sara smiled. “Welcome back, Leonard.”

[amits4g2]

Muddle Through Towards Better Web Design

Since the arrival of Pope Benedict XIV at the Twitter scene, I've been wondering how many people who don't know how to use the Internet are still out there in the Western world. But an even more intriguing question is this: how come so many people are proficient at using it? Have they been taught web browsing at school? Did they have to read "Internet For Beginners"? Have they taken any special courses?

The answer of course is that they learnt things on the fly. Our cognitive abilities allow us to instinctively absorb new information, recognize new patterns and adapt to new environments and routines. We don't need special instructions or conscious decision-making regarding the best approach to knowledge accumulation. We want to do something and we try to do it. We "muddle through".

How Do We Really Use Websites?

So how many of you read the user guide booklet that came with your new iPhone? What about the "Convention Used in This Book" page in your latest educational book? Mu guess is: not many. The same is true for the way we use websites. Everyone's busy, everyone's just trying to figure out how to get to a particular place and doing anything else seems like a waste of time. Now the funny thing is that everyone's got their own way of doing things. Even when it comes to a standard process such as navigating a website, some people will follow the links in the main navigation, while others will use the search button or start scanning paragraphs for clues.

One important implication of this tendency to muddle through is that people will often use websites in unexpected ways. Designers sometime envisage a perfect way of completing a particular process, e.g. you click on this link, you fill the form, you browse the available options and choose one as indicated in the instructions displayed to you left, you click the big "submit" button, etc. But in practice there are many ways to browse a website, use a web application, or even fill a contact form ("should I put my phone in the specially designated field or attach it in the body of the message like I always do?"). As a result, when offered a detailed record of how websites are actually used, some designers might think "who on Earth would let those monkeys anywhere near a computer?" Such attitude ignores of course that web users are not trying to figure out what the brilliant designer had in mind when creating the interface. They just want to get what they came for. If they have muddled through something and it worked, why shouldn't they try the same approach next time?

A well quoted example of such interface misconception is Steve Krug's anecdote about some users typing full URLs (including www.) into the Yahoo search box every time they want to go to a particular website. Krug explains:

If you ask them about it, it becomes clear that some of them think that Yahoo is the Internet, and that this is the way you use it. Muddling through, being a rather crude approach to cognition, is clearly prone to errors. But many errors, like the one above, don't have a great impact on the end result. If a website is used on a regular basis, an incomplete understating might slow things down a notch or make the user miss out on alternative options. But if you compare this to a structured approach to web browsing that involves careful review of published instructions and analysis of all potential routes and uses of the interface, then muddling through certainly sounds attractive. As Jeffrey Veen puts it:

[..] we're much more like motorists behind the wheel of a car in an unfamiliar city. We have a clear destination in mind, and are making split-second decisions while negotiating a confusing new place. And we are doing a task that demands our attention at the same time. No wonder we don't read. We're just trying to get done with this nonsense as quickly as possible. I believe this to be a well accepted proposition in the realm of user experience. However, besides this need for time-optimization there is also an alternative perspective for understanding the muddling through process where the explanation is found in the depths of the human psyche. In such view, we don't simply choose to muddle through. Muddling through is what makes us who we are.

Psychology of Muddling Through - the Doing Mode

In the field of Psychology, the process of muddling through is recognized as part of the "Doing mode". Doing mode is the function of the mind that allows rational critical thinking. Doing mode is what allows us to build bridges, send men to space, or write our thesis. It also governs the process of learning from repetition, a crucial ingredient to the success of the muddling through approach.

According to Prof. Mark Williams from Oxford University, Doing mode usually begins with recognition of a gap between our perceived current state and some alternative state that we would prefer to be in. In the context of the Web, this could be as simple as "I sit here bored to death; I would rather be watching a video of a skateboarder hurting himself". This perceived gap triggers an automatic pattern of mind activity, which sole aim to bring us closer the desired state.

Doing mode is responsible for analysing, planning, comparing, judging, discriminating, etc. What might be less obvious to some readers (especially those who never practiced meditation) is that these processes are usually instantaneous and unconscious. In the West, thinking is often considered a domain of consciousness. This is not true, however. Many people would be ready to claim thoughts as their own. But when asked where their thoughts came from, most would be left bemused. Thoughts arise spontaneously. In a state of concentration the trend of thought can generally be directed towards a specific subject but the arising of thoughts seems as if mental phenomena had a life of their own.

What I'm getting at is that Doing mode, and hence muddling through, is like an automatic pilot. We don't choose to do it, we just do it. In some sense Doing mode can be thought of as an elaborate survival mechanism. The existence of a desired state usually leaves us little room for considering why such state is desired or what the optimal way of achieving it is. Doing mode forces us to strive towards the goal, regardless of whether it was chosen in a sober, conscious state of mind or not. In fact, the goal does not even have to be "real". It can be based on an ephemeral emotion that develops into a mood (interestingly this is how stress arises - the mind considers a negative feeling to be a problem, a gap that must be overcome, triggering an array of memories, thoughts, and impulses that have a similar emotional hue in order to find a "solution"). This helps explain why when feeling a little down or lonely we can end up spending hours surfing for pictures of cats playing piano without even noticing.

Intuitive Web Design

Doing mode is not something designers need to fight against (although see "Conclusion" below for a brief mention of an alternative mode). Instead, designers need to try capture this somewhat primitive mind activity by allowing it to freely channel towards a positive outcome (finding information, buying products online, leaving a feedback, etc.).

If we compare web design to building a house, it is often too tempting for an architect to assume the house being used by a perfect gentlemen, who will always politely knock on the door, wipe his shoes on the "Welcome" mat, take of his hat and put it on the designated coat rack, and head to the dining room, never stepping outside the corridor carpet. The real user of the house, however, turns out to be a caveman who breaks the kitchen window with his club to get in, and rummages through the garbage bin in search for food.

The role of the architect is not to discriminate between the gentleman and the caveman and label one as "right" and the other as "wrong" or "crazy". The architect should instead recognize the nature of the house's users. If putting a gate in the kitchen will benefit the users, then that's what needs to be done. Decorating the dining room is not the priority.

Conclusion

Muddling through is not a niche approach to using the Web. It is the human way of using the Web and is true even for the most web-savvy people (or especially for web-savvy people). The reason why the process often doesn't receive the recognition it deserves is because we are not aware of it. The fact that it's subconscious does not mean it cannot be harnessed. It does, however, require thorough analysis of our emotional and behavioural tendencies in order for it to be helpful in building smarter web interfaces.

As most things in nature, Doing mode has its opposing force. In addition to the Doing mode, human mind can also operate in a state of awareness and directed attention that is devoid of judgment, allowing us to directly experience the present moment. Psychologists have labelled this state "Being mode". Though not ideal for navigation, we might prefer users to be in a Being mode when faced with a new idea that would be discarded in the Doing mode due to biased views. In such a scenario, we might want to shake the user out of his day-dreaming mode and become awake and alert, seeing things with a clearly comprehensive mind and inviting the user to re-examine his own condition.

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[minnamarie1983-blog]

Love, prayer, strength 2-23-2018

Love bible verses

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. NIV

John 14:15 "If you love me, keep my commands." NIV

John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." NIV

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" NIV

Micah 6:8 He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. NIV

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." NIV

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her NIV

1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. NIV

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. NIV

1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. NIV

John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." NIV

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds NIV

Philippians 2:1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion NIV

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. NIV

Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love NIV

Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love NIV

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. NIV

——-

Prayer bible verses

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. NIV

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. NIV

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. NIV

Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. NIV

John 17:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message," NIV

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. NIV

Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. NIV

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray continually, NIV

Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." NIV

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. NIV

Philippians 1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight NIV

John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. NIV

1 Timothy 4:5 Because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. NIV

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. NIV

1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. NIV

Isaiah 56:7 "These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." NIV

2 Corinthians 1:11 As you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. NIV

2 Corinthians 9:14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. NIV

Jeremiah 11:14 "Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress." NIV

——-

Strength bible verses

Philippians 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. NIV

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. NIV

Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. NIV

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. NIV

[tornapartbensolo-blog]

Luke, I’m Your Nephew

“His Jedi training with Luke Skywalker ended in tragedy when, seduced by the dark side, he betrayed the other students and became responsible for their destruction.” That’s the official wording in Star Wars: Galactic Maps (p. 15). Other licensed sources day the same thing. Ben Solo “destroyed” Luke’s Jedi academy. And Kylo Ren “destroyed” Ben Solo. It does not say Ben killed his fellow students. True, he might have slain them. It doesn’t say he didn’t, but logically it doesn’t make sense. We don’t know how many students made up the academy or their ages and abilities. Statistically speaking, some students were probably older than he was, some were likely younger. With a range of ages, or if the students were all about the same age, they could have ganged up on Ben and defeated him. The only way he could have single-handedly slaughtered them all is if they were younglings — like Vader did — who didn’t stand a chance. Or if he had help, say from the Knights of Ren or Snoke. Instead, all the official wording places the students’ destruction on Ben’s shoulders. And Kylo Ren, as a fully-formed character, is never referred to as “Jedi Killer.”

And where was Luke Skywalker when this destruction went down? Until I saw the second trailer for The Last Jedi, where we catch a glimpse of Luke’s mechanical hand thrusting out of the fiery rubble, I’d always thought he was absent when Ben betrayed the students, that he returned with R2-D2 to find the temple/academy up in flames, as we see in Rey’s Force vision. Of course, the two scenes might not go together. But the cinematography fits. But after hearing Luke say in the second trailer, “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now,” I don’t think he wasn’t able to stop his young nephew, or…he was unwilling to.

So, it’s a given Ben destroyed the academy — reduced it to ashes — but I think he betrayed the students by leading them astray, turning them against Luke, and the teachings of the Jedi. He became a pied piper, turned them to the dark side, and recruited them for Snoke’s evil purposes. In this story, Ben’s discovered the writings of Darth Plagueis — the Sith who groomed Palpatine (Darth Sidious), who in turn seduced Anakin Skywalker to the dark side. There’s great knowledge in Plagueis’ journals, from heinous experiments to arcane arts — things deliberately kept from public knowledge and from Luke’s students. It’s all too tempting and Padawan Ben Solo can’t wait to share it.

But Ben and Luke weren’t always at odds. Luke was probably enthusiastic to train his nephew in the beginning. Luke, after all, possesses a great deal of compassion and understanding. He saw tremendous potential in his nephew. But what he failed to comprehend was the depth of Ben’s powers, and the hurt that fueled them, not to mention the influence of Snoke.

Young Ben initially got along well with his uncle — someone who wasn’t his parents and who had a great interest in him and could teach him many exciting things. Luke and Ben crossed the galaxy together, looking for Jedi artifacts. But as time went on, Ben became less enamored with the Jedi tradition. It was incomplete. It wasn’t the whole story. He wanted to know more. He wanted to know how the Force worked. His hunger for knowledge is insatiable. Knowledge is power.

In the canon novel Bloodline by Claudia Gray, which follows the life of Senator Leia Organa during the year ABY 31, three years before the events of The Force Awakens, Luke and Ben are on a journey and out of comm range. Perhaps they’re seeking the first Jedi temple together. Ben was born in ABY 5, so his betrayal of Luke didn’t occur before Ben was 26 (before ABY 31). With Snoke’s prodding from the shadows, Ben was skilled at keeping dark side knowledge he’d gained a secret and, with it, his true motives hidden from Luke. Now that we’ve heard Luke’s astonishing declaration, “It’s time for the Jedi to end,” it makes sense that Luke wanted to return to the original teachings of the Jedi. Perhaps he felt Jedi teachings and practices had been corrupted by galactic politics.

Luke’s had the wind knocked out of him while trying to reign in and guide his volatile nephew. Has the Jedi Master turned to the dark side? Hell no. He already faced and survived the biggest showdown with the dark side, so he’s not going to be tempted now. According to Disney Rewards Insider, Mark Hamill revealed, “In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Luke has lost confidence in his ability to make good choices. It haunts him to the core. But he hasn’t gone to the dark side. This isn’t an evil version of him. But it’s still an incarnation of the character I never expected. It has pulled me out of my comfort zone. It’s a real challenge.” (www.syfy.com)

So, does Luke mean it’s time for the Jedi — as we know them — to end? That’s the most likely interpretation, but I think it’s bigger than that. I’ll get into my theory about the upcoming drama in my post on the Force — what it is, and what shocking things might be revealed to our heroes and villains who tinker with it. After all, what you don’t know might hurt you!

In one my stories, I imagined Luke wanting to destroy the Jedi teachings he felt were dangerous, misleading, or misguided. Kylo Ren, on the other hand, wants to devour that knowledge — right or wrong. He believes it contains secret power, and while he was a Padawan, he went with his uncle to secretly collect and preserve it. All this time, Ben has been acting as an agent and spy for Snoke, whether he realizes it or not.

In the end, things come to a head between Ben — now taking the name Kylo Ren — and the Jedi Master. They argue over ideals, morals, and personal convictions, as in this story. But interestingly, there’s been no suggestion from official sources that there was a showdown between them. No dramatic duel that sent Luke into hiding. Instead, Luke’s retreat into the hermit life seems to be self-inflicted. Current speculation is that he’s taken the Barash Vow, which is “an oath taken by Jedi who completely refrained from all activities related to their order as a form of penitence, disengaging from anything but the Force itself,” according to Wookieepedia. In the Darth Vader Marvel comics series, Vader is hunting down Jedi who escaped execution during Order 66, like those who had taken the Barash Vow and were in seclusion. The idea that Luke went into seclusion over his perceived failure in starting the New Jedi Order makes complete sense. And when Rey arrives on the scene, hoping to bring him back into the fight between good and evil, he does not give her a warm welcome. He does not want that responsibility again.

Does Luke recognize Rey? Watching Mark Hamill’s facial expressions during that scene, I believe he does. The look he give her isn’t, “Who the hell are you, kid?” rather it’s simply, “Oh, shit.” He starts to shake his head as if he’s about to say, “Oh, no. You’re not going to lay that burden on me again, Rey.” So, is she his lost daughter? Absolutely not. First of all, Luke — as a devout Jedi — would have been too busy starting the new Order, teaching, and traveling the galaxy to start a family. The Expanded Universe (EU) stories where he does have one have been dropped, although not completely abandoned. Secondly, if he did have a daughter, he wouldn’t abandon her. That’s not in his character. And, most important of all, Leia would have recognized Rey through the Force as her niece, even if she’d never met her before. That didn’t happen in The Force Awakens.

Ok, so Rey isn’t Luke’s daughter, but he recognizes her. Who is she? I’m still thinking she was an orphaned youngling under his care and instruction at the academy. He might have been responsible for killing her parents. They could have been dark-side users. Whoever Rey’s parents were, she obviously is very strong in the Force and probably displayed incredible Force-abilities at an early age, like Ben Solo. “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before….” It’s entirely possible he’s talking about Rey as a lost little girl. She may have survived the destruction of the academy. I still think he’s responsible for abandoning Rey on Jakku — partly out of fear that she’ll develop incredible powers, and partly as a means to hide her from Project Harvester. He never meant for her to wind up in the hands of Unkar Plutt but left her instead in the care of Lor San Tekka. Luke had lost his way. He needed time, he needed guidance, and he sought it on Ahch-to.

There’s a lot of fan speculation about how the upcoming showdown between Kylo and Luke will end. It has to happen. There’s no avoiding it. Will Kylo kill Luke? Will Luke kill Kylo? No, not in The Last Jedi. Both characters are too important to the plot. I think Luke, Kylo, and Rey are going to have to join forces to defeat Snoke in Episode IX.

One thing’s certain when it comes to Kylo hunting Luke: Luke has something Kylo wants — a shard of red kyber crystal.

Oh, and Rey.

We’re not done yet.

@MyKyloRen   7 November 2017

[edenrelente]

Life Lesson 454

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Since it is human nature to battle against self-worship, we are tempted to focus on the latter half of this verse which seems to promise that God will give us whatever our little hearts desire. But realizing the context of Psalm 37:4 will help us better comprehend what it means to delight in the Lord.

Lori grew up attending a church that was big on emotional experiences. Not a Sunday went by that someone didn’t say they had received a “special word from the Lord.” When the music played there were lots of tears, hallelujah shouts and other things that she wasn’t too sure about. During the week the pendulum swung the other way when Lori attended a conservative Christian school with legalistic overtones.

While her church would say their hunger for experiences expressed their delight in the Lord, the message she got from school was, “God is only delighted when you live up to His expectations”. Lori was conflicted and wanted real answers about what it meant to delight herself in the Lord. Maybe you can relate?

True delight in Him causes us to take our sights off of what we want in order to long for what He desires. The command to delight in God appears amidst this list that King David penned in the Psalms as the antidote for his fretting people:

Know the fate of evildoers (Psalm 37:2)

Trust in the Lord (37:3)

Do good (37:3)

Befriend faithfulness (37:3)

Delight yourself in the LORD (37:4)

Commit your way to Him (37:5)

Rest in, and wait patiently for, The Lord (37:7)

So, wow. Right in the middle of fretting over circumstances God wants us to apply all of these principles and somehow delight in Him. That sounds great, but how is one to muster up delight in God when everything around you seems to be going wrong?

The best way to stop fretting is to take your eyes off the circumstances and fix them on Christ who is the true source of a believer’s delight. There are many reasons to delight in the Lord but for now, let’s unpack just five ways to delight Him:

1. Delight in the excellencies of the Lord our God

We are all bent to admire our heroes. Whether it’s an athlete, musician or entertainer, we enjoy following their accomplishments. But God created us with the longing to admire all the wonders of who He is and His excellent greatness. Looking to a person to fill this God-given desire will never bring true delight or satisfaction.

Realize “the god of this world blinds the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). So, their desire to worship will always turn toward idolizing a person, or belief system, unless the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to the truth. Be humbled to consider Paul’s observation in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And such were some of you.” (Take a deep breath. Let that sit with you for a moment. Delight in how excellent is God that He opened your eyes to realize your need for a Savior!)

When you delight in the excellencies of God you will come to understand that everything about Him is the answer to your longings. Devote yourself to discovering in the Bible what He reveals about His character and ways and you cannot help but delight in His excellence.

If you spend the rest of your life learning the immeasurable greatness of God, admiration for Jesus will explode in your heart and mind. This will ignite an insatiable desire in youto know more of His excellencies –– resulting in even greater delight and true satisfaction in Him. And nothing –– not even fretful circumstances, will steal away from you this supernatural delight.

Consider this quote from Puritan Preacher Jonathan Edward’s sermon The Excellencies of Christ: “The person of Christ brings together infinite highness and infinite condescension, infinite justice and infinite grace, infinite glory and lowest humility, infinite majesty and transcendent meekness, deepest reverence towards God and equality with God, infinite worthiness of good and greatest patience under suffering evil, exceeding spirit of obedience with supreme dominion over heaven and earth, absolute sovereignty and perfect resignation, self-sufficiency and entire trust and reliance upon God.”

2. Delight in The Lord's presence

The Hebrew word for delight (anag) commands us to find enjoyment in God. The Lord wants us to incline our hearts toward Him –– to lean in to Christ where we will discover unspeakable joy. James 4:8 promises, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” How cool is that? The Creator of heaven and earth is more than willing to draw near to you if you would but lean into His presence through prayer, meditation on Scripture and hearing Him speak to you through His Word.

When I travel to speak at women’s events my husband really misses me. (We are empty-nesters so the house can feel rather lonely.) He texts often while I am away –– which is delightful! Can you imagine how it would hurt our intimacy if I chose to ignore his texts until I returned home from my trip?

In the same way, when you get so busy doing “good things for God” that you regularly ignore the messages He has for you in the Bible, you’ll not be keenly aware of His presence causing your fellowship and delight in Him to be hindered. Consider Martha’s sister Mary who chose the better thing which will not be taken away (see Luke chapter 10).

3. Delight in God’s help

When you hear that God commands you to delight in Him you may be tempted to think, I’d better pull myself up by my religious bootstraps and figure out how to enjoy God. But God does not want you to delight in Him out of duty. Rather, whatever God commands Christians to do, He always provides not only the ability, but also gives us the unction to do it.

Be inspired by this promise found in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” And be encouraged by the Apostle Paul’s words, “[I am] confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

If you even want to figure out how to delight in God it’s evidence of His work in you. Isn’t that exciting? And when God gives you the will He also empowers you to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

When I realized I didn’t delight in God I asked Him to help me by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit. And do you know what? God answered that prayer, and He will be faithful to answer yours too. God says, “You have not because you ask not.” Ask and He promises to answer when you pray according to His will because it brings glory to His Son (see James 4:2b & John 14:13-14).

4. Delight our Lord's great love for you

Jesus loves me this I know… Maybe you’ve heard this your whole life so it’s kind of lost its meaning for you. In more than 30 years as a pastor’s wife my husband and I have found that some of the hardest people to reach with the Gospel are those who have grown up in the church, because they take for granted God’s tremendous love for them. Somehow they have the idea, Of course God loves me. I’m entitled to be loved by Him because I’m such a good person and have gone to church all my life.

To be honest, I was one of those kids. Even though God transformed my family when my father came to Christ, as a second generation Christian I was unmoved by the transformation. Growing up in the church and attending Christian schools I was apathetic toward the inexpressible love God had for me –– maybe you can relate?

I knew that Jesus shed His precious blood to cleanse me from my sins. I’d memorized Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” But the familiarity of the message seemed to move me to apathy. I don’t think I am the only Christian who missed the power of those words while growing up in my Christian bubble.

In Ephesians 3:18-19 the Apostle Paul seemed to be concerned about their understanding of God’s love for them when he prayed that they would be “able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height –– to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God.”

May God answer Paul’s prayer in the lives of believers so that our comprehension of His great love of us will cause our delight in Him to be a beacon of hope to this generation who is in desperate need of a Savior. Amen?

5. Delight in God's mercy and compassion

God’s abundant mercy is something I will never fully comprehend. Because He is merciful we can stand before Him whiter than snow under the cleansing blood of Christ. I don’t know about you but I know I don’t deserve God’s mercy or Christ’s compassion. “Come now and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow…” (Isaiah 1:18). I know the shameful woman I would have become without Christ’s saving mercy. And I stand in awe that He would save a sinner such as I. How about you?

Together let’s pray the words of Lamentations 3:22-23. And may it stir in us genuine delight in The Lord: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.”

A.W. Tozer said, "We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit (and) when the Holy Spirit shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and DELIGHT.” Oh that His Spirit would raise up a generation who so admires God that delighting in Him becomes our insatiable pleasure that far exceeds anything this world has to offer.

[innergladiatorstudent]

Greek mythology and terrorism

A few years ago the Italian actress Lucilla Gianoni presented her show Vergine Madre (Virgin Mother), inspired by six books of Dante's Inferno. I have to admit, it was a weird show but I loved it. At a certain point, while introducing the audience to the book in which Odysseus appears, she said that the hero could be considered as the first terrorist.

Now, I was a little sceptic and I still am, but here are Gianoni's reasons to why we should consider Odysseus the first terrorist: he slaughtered Penelope's suitors and pretended to be someone else in order to get into systems (she didn't quite explain what she meant to say here, ndr). Well, that's how Greek heroes acted, isn't it? But maybe Gianoni has a point. “Odysseus was the Man with the capitol letter, he was the one that achieved progress. Progress is an interesting word; it comes from the Latin pro-gredire, to go forward, and nowadays progress is seen as a good thing, because it led us to medicines, arts... but also to the atomic bomb. His curiosity, his thirst for knowledge was the (only) engine for all of his researches and activities and journeys. Odysseus is an amazing actor. In ancient Greek the word for actor was hypocrites, he who can fool others. Odyssesus, the most known and loved hero, is in the depths of Hell, according to Dante, and he ends up there because of all of his deceits. He has the ability to disguise himself, get into the system and destroy the system from the inside. Of course Odysseus needed to protect himself from this wild world, but he also enjoyed the process a lot. After Odyssesus, there's the apocalypse. Odysseus is a man that wants to recreate the world according to what he likes and dislikes and no religion, no deities and no morals could ever stop him. He subverts the world.”.

Subverting the world... well, that's something terrorism is trying to do, isn't it?

Sure, many other characters in Greek mythology tried to change the world, but Odysseus did it on a larger scale and was the only one man who tried the enterprise, all the others were gods. He wanted the best for the world, but what he thought was the best. Who was he to judge? I think that's the whole point and what Gianoni is trying to say. Nobody (no pun intended) should ever feel entitled to change the whole world by themselves. That's why dictatorships are wrong and often lead to some sort of crisis and why the majority of the countries in the world have a form of government that involves a lot of people with different (political) views. And that's also why we condemn terrorism and all the other form of extremism.

A couple of years ago I was on a beach in Nizza (France) enjoying the sight of fireworks and then exactly one year later there was that terrorist attack we all know about. When I came to know about it, I felt so... strange. Yet I simply acknowledged the fact: it is a possibility, nowadays, to find ourselves in that sort of situations, and there's no way of knowing if, when and how we would act, because it is inhuman.

Gianoni's work was for me food for thought. I think that Greek mythology and its meaning and lessons are universal and timeless. So, while Odysseus was the pseudo-terrorist, I think that there are good examples for the modern Western society: first of all, we have Heracles. We all know his story, don't we? Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmene, both hero and god, the strongest of them all. Driven mad by Hera, Zeus' jealous wife, Heracles brutally killed his own children: to expiate the crime he had to carry out The Twelve Labours, id absolutely impossible tasks. But he made it. The question is, how?

Suffering, of course. Those task were impossible for anyone else in the world and made Heracles struggle a lot in order to achieve them. They were physically demanding but also on the psychological side, they weren't so easy.

In Jeanette Winterson's book “Weight”, there's a sentence that pretty much sums it all up. “Heracles knew that it would be this poison or the one after”. Not that he was a coward nor afraid, but he simply knew his fate. Or, at least that's what he thought: contrary to everybody's expectations, he achieved those tasks and remained alive in the process. Now, how can this relate to terrorism and Westerns? Well, there's a part of the society, that think just like Heracles was used to; they think that their fate is already written, that modern times are nothing but violent and cruel, but, as I said before, Heracles was wrong about it. Maybe so they are.

Then we have Atlas. He was one of the Titans, deities which came before the Olympic gods, against whom the Titans led a war, a losing war. Zeus, now king of the Olympus and its gods, wanted to punish him, so he sent Atlas to bear the Sky upon his shoulders. An unbearable weight, but Atlas was a Titan and so he persisted. One day, Atlas refuses Perseus hospitality, so the demi-god hero petrifies him using Medusa's head. Though Titans were immortal, Atlas turn into a mountain that still bears his name. And this is just one of many examples of god and deities being killed (or however who stop living as we mean it).

There are two interpretations for this episode (or at least that's what I could come up with).

Some people think they are immortal. While it's a lucky thing we are not, they tend to ignore the facts that surround us all. They think “Oh, it's never going to happen to me”. Well, it's a possibility. The Greeks believed in Fate, which they called Tuche. It comes from the Latin verb fari, therefore fatum, the neuter past participle that means “what has been said”. It is useless trying to defeat Fate (think to Achilles and Patroclus, for instance), it's too strong and it does not competes to men to change it. Fate is unpredictable, even now.

On the other hand, some people nowadays are scared of the world, for many reasons really, in which terrorism can be found; so they tend to petrify. I understand them, I really do. It's so tempting, never leaving the place we feel safe in. But then what? Can we call that a life worth living?

Who's right and who's wrong, there's no way of knowing.

We should simply acknowledge the fact that terrorism exists, absorb it yet not letting it ruin our lives. We could also do something to fight it, in our small way. The first thing that comes to my mind is education, because as long as there's someone out there who knows what (for example) Palmyra was, or what were all the other assets destroyed by terrorism, and as long as said someone is willing to share that knowledge, then we know that terrorism did not achieve its goal (subvert the world) and that there's still a possibility to end it.

[faithfulnews]

Jesus, My Magnificent Obsession: A People of Whom the World Is Not Worthy

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and . . . of David . . . and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. (Hebrews 11:32–35)

The Scripture clearly describes a glorious remnant of believers dwelling on the earth when Jesus returns. These will be a people whose mind is set on things above, a people who understand that things which are seen are upheld by things not seen, even by the very word of God. A people who despise the enticing passing pleasure of sins which has subjected this world to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. A people who live by the law of the Spirit and life, who are free from the law of sin and death, and whose mind has been transformed according to the mindset described by Paul in Philippians 2:6–9. A people who present their bodily life in its entirety as an utmost expression of spiritual worship, a people who live by faithful proclamation the wonderful Gospel of the kingdom of God, pulling as many as out of the fire of hell as possible. A people saved by grace through faith and thus displaying the excellency of Christ’s grace on the earth. A people who have been ravished by Christ’s love, thus living in the normality of loving one another even as Christ loves us. A people who live by the Beatitudes and daily take up their cross to follow Christ.

My dear brethren, consider with me how at this apex of global redemption God will have such a remnant on the earth whom He has called from every tongue, every tribe, and every nation; shining as burning lampstands on the earth and prepared as a Bride for His Son. Oh, how glorious!

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. . . . And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. (Hebrews 11:35–40; emphasis added)

As the church in the West continues to be plagued with religious opulence and spiritual famine, such strong characteristics of a holy remnant may not seem common among us, even though the Bible unapologetically insists that everyone who believes, I mean literally everyone, live this way. The Holy Spirit has prophesied through the Scripture that Jesus will have a strong people with understanding, that will carry out great exploits in the last days; a glorious Bride without spot and wrinkle made ready for Himself. This is a necessary future of God’s people. As spiritual compromise, luke-warmness, and even outright apostasy are increasingly ravaging through the Western church, I trust that the Holy Spirit remains steadfast in His mighty works to complete what Christ had finished on the cross. We as believers must set ourselves to not settle for less than the fullness of God, that we might be counted worthy of being unworthy of this world.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us. (Hebrews 12:1; emphasis added)

No matter what the gates of hell throw against God’s people, His ekklēsia (Church) has a corporate victorious destiny undergirded by the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. How do we as individuals find ourselves in this glorious storyline? How do we navigate such a perilous and yet secure future? The Scripture exhorts us to consider the fact that we are not alone. We are part of a long line of those whom heaven delights in and of those who count the gains of this world as dung. These are ones who were in this world but not of this world. This great cloud of witnesses is our tangible barometer to heavenly reality in the midst of a world that seeks to emasculate us with vain vision and vile passion. This cloud of witnesses, the trophies of grace in history’s showroom, reminds us when we are weary that we are made for one reason and one reason alone—to know God and to enjoy Him forever.

But the author of Hebrews is not just referring to the saints of old in this passage; no, but even more so the saints of today—the men and women in your life, at your workplace, in your family, and in your pews who call upon the fame and hope of Christ. Paul prayed fervently for those in the church of Ephesus who were experiencing unprecedented revival, that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that [they] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18–19). Paul’s pastoral heart was so in tune with the desire of the Great Shepherd that the Holy Spirit confirmed this prayer as holy Scripture, that we might still today pray it for each other. It is our present brethren in Christ who continually sharpen us in spirit, soul, and body, as we all mutually pursue this grand and magnificent obsession, in which we are most glorified and most satisfied. By abiding in this bonding desire, with Jesus as our “one thing” (Psalm 27:4), we live out a vibrant life of loving each other even as He has loved us. The author of Hebrews made it abundantly clear, this holy and peculiar people will only experience the fullness of their walk in Christ with one another by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Even so, let us run together today.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12: 1–2; emphasis added)

Indeed more powerful than the reality of being surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, both past and present, we have Jesus as the “author and finisher of our faith.” We have been given the privilege by His redemptive blood to approach His throne of grace, to behold Him, and fellowship with Him in His sufferings, death, and resurrection. Oh, how a life immersed in the fascination of Jesus’ beauty inspires a life of imitation of Christ! By imitating Christ in carrying our own cross daily, we find ourselves among a company of peculiar people; pilgrims on the earth whose ultimate destiny is the eternal city of the New Jerusalem. When our gaze is fixed upon Jesus, as our magnificent obsession, difficult trials seem like momentary light afflictions, the vainglory, pride, and lust of this world lose their seduction in comparison with the eternal weight of the glory of Christ. And truly, for such a people, the world is not worthy . . .

What impacts you most from this article?

Want more from Daniel Lim? If so, we recommend Bible 360: Total Engagement with the Word of God. This helpful book includes 10 profound and highly practical ways to engage with God in the Bible as well as other tools. Bible 360 is available now from the Forerunner Bookstore in print and various ebook formats. Learn more >>

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[stephenaltrogge-blog]

Why is it important to study and reflect upon the attributes of God?

In The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer said,

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

When we go through hard times, what we believe about God shapes how we respond to them. The attribute of God’s sovereignty assures us he is in control. The attribute of God’s love assures us he cares for us and will be good and faithful.

When tempted to sin, the attribute of God’s holiness produces healthy, godly fear. The attribute of God’s omniscience reminds us that he sees us and knows all we do and think.

It is important that we know our God and believe the attributes of God he has revealed about himself in Scripture.

Contents

What Are the Attributes of God?

The Attributes of God

Independence

Omnipotence

Omniscience

Omnipresence

Unchangeableness

Unity

Wisdom

Truthfulness

Faithfulness

Goodness

Love

Gracious and Merciful

Savor The Attributes of God

What Are the Attributes of God?

An attribute is something that belongs to someone. A quality or characteristic or trait. Attributes of people may be intelligence or humor or diligence. You might say that someone is hard-working, or kind, or generous.

Attributes of God are his traits or characteristics. Some examples are: God is eternal, infinite, holy, loving, merciful.

“The foundation of all true knowledge of God must be a clear mental apprehension of His perfections as revealed in Holy Scripture. And unknown God can neither be trusted, served, nor worshipped.” –A W. Pink

Knowing God, and knowing his attributes brings us great joy, delight, and peace of mind. The more we know God the more we enjoy him, worship him, and experience his peace when going through hard times.

The more we know God, the more we will fear him, turn from sin and spare ourselves the consequences of sin. The more we know God, the more we will trust him with our lives.

Apart from knowing God, we won’t understand sin, its consequences, or how to be freed from it. We won’t know what Jesus has done to redeem us from sin’s punishment and power.

The Attributes of God

Independence

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything (Acts 17:24-25).

God’s independence means that he needs no one and nothing. He is the SOVEREIGN, independent one.

He exists completely independently of all things. He was never created and he created all things. He is the sovereign ruler who is over all and needs nothing from his creation.

All things are dependent upon God and look to him for their very existence. If God stopped upholding the world at any point, the world would simply cease to exist.

As it says in Hebrews 1:3, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

Ponder this staggering attribute of God for a moment. Jesus upholds all things by the very power of his word. If he stopped speaking the universe into existence, it would dissolve.

Omnipotence

Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! (Psalm 24:8)

God’s omnipotence means that he has all power. There are zero limits on the power of God. He is able to do everything wants and nothing can stop him.

This attribute of God is absolutely mind-boggling. We are so weak and limited in our own strength. And yet God is completely omnipotent. He is able to do all that he pleases.

Nothing and no one can stand against God. As it says in Psalm 2:2-4:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Kings and presidents may plot against God but he simply laughs at them. Why? Because God is omnipotent.

Omniscience

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar (Psalm 139:1-2).

God’s omniscience means that he knows ALL things. This is an absolutely breathtaking attribute of God. Consider all the knowledge that exists in all the books that have ever been written.

Consider all the knowledge that is required to understand how the solar system works.

Consider all that must be know in order to understand every creature in the sea. God indeed does possess all that knowledge because he is omniscient. He knows all things, including every thought we think and every word that we utter. There is nothing outside of his complete and total knowledge.

Compare this to our knowledge. We are so limited in our knowledge and understanding of the world. We are so limited in our understanding of how things work. Not so with God.

His thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. What a glorious reason to praise God.

Omnipresence

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10).

God’s omnipresence means that he is fully at all places at all times. There is never a time when God is not completely and fully everywhere. Never a time when he is not present everywhere.

This attribute of God is such good news for those of us who know Jesus Christ. He has promised that he will never leave us or forsake. We always have access to the full and complete presence of God, no matter where we go.

Neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation can separate us from the loving presence of our God.

Just as God’s presence was with Daniel in the lion’s den and with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago in the fiery furnace, so God’s presence is always with us. This should be such a great comfort to us.

Unchangeableness

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

When we say that God is unchangeable, we mean that he literally never changes. He has always been and always will be precisely who he is today. Nothing ever changes in his character. He doesn’t become more or less of anything.

When you combine this attribute of God with his other attributes, it highlights the true beauty of God’s attributes. He is has always been and will always be completely loving, righteous, holy, faithful, merciful, and gracious.

We don’t have to worry about God changing – about him becoming suddenly less holy or faithful or righteous. He will always relate to us in the same way because he is unchangeable. Just as he related to the saints of old, so will he relate to us.

If he was gracious previous saints, he’ll be gracious to us. If he was faithful to them, he’ll be faithful to us. If he was a shepherd to his people, he’ll be a shepherd to us. He is forever unchanging.

Unity

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin… (Exodus 34:6-7).

God’s unity means that he is simultaneously all of his attributes at one time. In other words, he’s not one part loving and one part holy. Rather, he is 100% loving, 100% holy, and 100% of all his other attributes.

You could say that God is not divided into pieces. He is both loving and just, faithful and true. His love goes hand in hand with his justice, and his faithfulness goes hand in hand with his truthfulness. No part of God is separated from any other part of God. Each attribute of God is simply one way of describing the totality of God’s character.

Why is this such good news? Because if God was only partially loving, we would have no guarantee that he would always treat us with love. If he was only partially just, there would be no guarantee that he would punish injustice and work justice for the oppressed.

But God is always 100% of his attributes. He is unified, and that should bring us great joy.

Wisdom

…to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen (Romans 16:27).

God’s wisdom means that he always chooses the best goals and the best ways to achieve those goals. In other words, God always does what is best, what is wise, and what is good. And he always chooses the best way to do the best things.

We can entrust ourselves to our infinitely wise God. Everything he ordains for us is good and right. Every path he leads us on is righteous and true and good.

In his wisdom, God truly is working all things for our God. As it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Don’t doubt the loving, wise hand of your Father. Whatever you are going through at this moment, you can know that it has been chosen for you by your infinitely wise Father. He doesn’t make mistakes, doesn’t accidentally lead us in the wrong direction. He is always wise and faithful.

Truthfulness

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

God’s truthfulness means that he is the ULTIMATE standard of truth. Every word he speaks and all his knowledge is the complete and total truth. There is no falsehood in him. He is truth itself. He never speaks a word that is even partially false. His words are true and we can rely upon his words as being 100% completely true.

Wayne Grudem says:

To say that God knows all things and that his knowledge is perfect is to say that he is never mistaken in his perception or understanding of the world: all that he knows and thinks is true and is a correct understanding of the nature of reality.

This is such good news and this attribute of God should fill us with joy. We don’t have to wonder whether God’s promises are true. Because God himself is fully and totally true, we can be absolutely sure that all his promises are true.

We can rely upon them completely. We can throw all our weight upon them. Hope in them. Believe them. Live and die by them. There is no falsehood in God, and we can completely entrust ourselves to his glorious true promises.

As it says in Romans 3:4, “…Let God be true though every one were a liar.”

Faithfulness

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)

God’s faithfulness means that he will bring every word he has spoken to pass. This is directly related to God’s truthfulness. He has made many true statements, promises to his people, and he absolutely will bring every one of those promises to pass. Every statement and promise that God makes is completely and totally true.

This attribute of God should be so encouraging to us. God will be faithful to fulfill his promises to you! You can count on God’s faithfulness. He will bring all of his promises to pass and every word he has spoken will prove to be true.

He is not a man that he can lie or change his mind. If he has spoken, he will fulfill it. Don’t doubt the faithfulness of God. Don’t doubt his promises. Trust him, hold fast to him, cling to him. He is a faithful God and will bring all his good words to pass.

Goodness

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 106:1)

God’s goodness means both that he is the very definition of all that is good and that everything he does is good. In his very being, God is good. It’s simply who he is. Everything in this world that is good is a reflection of some part of God’s good character.

What a glorious privilege to know the One who is goodness itself. To be in fellowship with the One who is the sum and substance of all good things. There is nothing more good in the universe than God himself, and we get to call this good God, “Father.” Is there any greater privilege than that?

Additionally, everything that God does is good. We can be sure that every action he takes is incredibly good. We can also be sure that everything he does in our lives is good.

I love how Psalm 31:19 puts it:

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

God has staggering, overflowing, abundant goodness stored up for us. And he loves to pour it out upon us. Isn’t that good news? Doesn’t that fill your heart with joy. Our God is good and does good. We can rest in that.

Love

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8).

This is a breathtaking attribute of God. God. Is. Love. It’s not just that God is loving, which he certainly is. It’s that his very being is love itself. Everything about God is love.

Wayne Grudem says, “God’s love means that God eternally gives of himself to others.”

What an astounding thing to ponder. God is constantly giving himself to others. Constantly bringing others into his loving goodness.

And amazingly, he pours out that love upon us. God loves us so much that he gave his only Son to die in our place on the cross to rescue us from our sins.

As Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

God doesn’t just say that he is loving, he actually proves it by laying down his life for us. Is there any greater proof that God is love. Is there any greater evidence that God loves you?

Gracious and Merciful

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness… (Exodus 34:6)

When we say that God is both gracious and merciful, we’re talking about two sides of the same coin. Grace is receiving what we don’t deserve and mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

God is gracious by giving us so many blessings that we don’t deserve. Even though we sinned against God and rejected him, he still poured out his grace upon us. He blesses us, gives good things to us, and loves us as his beloved children.

God is merciful to us by not giving us what we do deserve. We deserve to be punished for our sins. We deserve to experience the furious wrath of God for our rebellion against God. And yet God doesn’t treat us according to our sins.

As is says in Psalm 103:10, “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”

I’m so grateful that God doesn’t treat me according to my sins. Instead of giving me what I deserve, he pours out abundant goodness upon me. Instead of punishing me for my sins, he gives me the righteousness of Christ and all the staggering blessings that come with that.

These two attributes of God should cause us to bow down before God in both wonder and worship. He is worthy of our praise and adoration because he is gracious and merciful.

Savor The Attributes of God

The attributes of God shouldn’t just be head knowledge. Rather, they should motivate us to worship our God. They should fill us with awe and wonder and praise. They should stir our affections for God and set our hearts on fire.

So savor these attributes of God. Let them be a springboard for worship.

The post The Attributes of God: Life-Changing Truths To Savor appeared first on The Blazing Center.

[theculturedmarxist]

Dear Eugene:

You have now reached the age at which the students go to the university. There, according to custom, they register first of all for a course in logic, whether they choose the study of law, medicine, or theology. Logic is, so to say, the elementary study in all branches of learning. Now you know, my dear, that school and life are regarded as two separate things. I should like to call your attention to their connection. We live also in school, we are schooled also by life. I should like to consider your trip across the Atlantic ocean as your first venture in the high school of life, and assume the role of your professor of logic.

I feel well qualified for this office. Although I am not well up in Latin and Greek, still I feel competent to guide you to the depths of logical science better than a German professor trained and installed according to the most approved pattern. You will admit the possibility of such a thing. For one who knows little may explain that little with more ease and efficacy than one who has his head stuffed full of the prescribed bunch of official wisdom.

You, my son, have been so fortunate as to enjoy a seven years’ course in a German college. And since your teachers, at your departure, gave you the highest certificate, I may well consider you as qualified not only to enter the school of life in the United States, but also to listen intelligently to my lectures on logic.

But in order that my well trained pupil may not look down upon his self-taught teacher, I appeal to the fact that even the man with the best all-around education will be a tyro in specialties; and that, on the other hand, ignorance in many things does not exclude the possibility of knowing more about a certain specialty than science has heretofore grasped. Now I claim in this case to have acquired a knowledge of the subject with which I intend to deal here that surpasses anything I have been able to find in the professional literature. I mention this, my dear Eugene, with all due modesty, not for the purpose of throwing a halo around my personality, but in order to give a certain authority to my office as teacher and to inspire my pupil with confidence.

Yes, I value confidence. Although you know me as a democrat who cares nothing for authority, you shall also learn to know me as a graduate in dialectics who, though he may empty the bath, still retains his hold on the child and does not permit it to float off with the water. Children, and one may say nations in their childhood, cannot do without authority, and a teacher, whether he instruct children or nations, cannot dispense with a certain confidence-inspiring air. The pupil must believe in the wisdom of his teacher, in order that he may approach the master with the necessary attention and willingness to learn. Later on the understanding of the subject makes all authority superfluous. Thus a thing so sublime as authority is subject to the destructive tendencies of time, to the historical process.

Hitherto mankind has often been tempted by preconceived notions to idolize vain things. It has been attempted to shield not only authority in general, but, what is still worse, this or that throne or altar, against the attacks of time. The relation between the perishable and the imperishable has always been subject to much misunderstanding. Now since logic is that science which aims to set the intellect aright, we shall have to touch occasionally on the general misconception of time and eternity.

The most famous expounders of logic are reproached for their cumbrous style and their obscure mode of explanation. Even masters of languages have complained in my hearing about the foreign terms used by that branch of science, terms which even they could not understand. Much of the blame for this condition of things may fall on the difficulties of the subject, which have baffled all elucidation for thousands of years. Some of the blame also falls on the bad habit of using learned vernacular. But the greatest fault lies with the mental laziness of the students. Nothing can be learned without mental exertion. If you are concerned in your further development, you will recognize the Christian word as to the curse of work as untrue. Work cannot be descended from sin, for it is a blessing. You will have experienced in yourself how elated one feels after successful physical or mental work.

The things which science yields without exertion can be at most axiomatic commonplaces.

I assume that you are quite willing to perform the necessary mental labor, and I promise you that I shall do my best to make this study easy for you. I do this so much more readily, as I frankly confess that these letters to my son are written with the intention of making them accessible to a wider circle of readers by means of the press.

Before concluding, let me say a word about my aim of speaking especially of democratic-proletarian logic. You will think or say: Logic may be a subject worthy of study, but a special democratic-proletarian logic can surely treat of nothing but party matters. But just as the special accomplishments in this or that line, the special advances of this or that nation, are at the same time general advances, progress of civilization, so the ideas of proletarian logic are not party ideas, but conclusions of logic in general. You may reply: Even though the special thought of a Chinaman may be quite consistent and logical, still we would not call it Chinese logic. That would be quite true, but it does not meet my point.

The thought on which the proletarian demands are based, the idea of the equality of all human beings, this ultimate proletarian idea, if I may say so, is fully backed up by the deeper insight into the tortuous problem of logic. Now, since this idea dominates mankind, it certainly has more right than any Chinese idea. Furthermore, industrial development has leveled, simplified, cleared all social conditions to such an extent that it becomes ever easier to penetrate with sober eyes into the secrets of logic. Finally, my logic deserves its proletarian qualification for the reason that it requires for its understanding the overcoming of all prejudices by which the capitalist world is held together.

The cause of the people is not a party matter, but the general object of all science.

The people’s cause as the ultimate object, and logic as the most elementary and most abstract science, as ultimate science, are as intimately connected as plants and botany, or as laws and the legal profession. So are the interests of democracy and the proletariat intimately connected. The fact that this has not been well recognized in the United States so far, is more a proof of the lucky condition of that country than of the scientific knowledge of its democracy. The spreading primeval forests and prairies offered innumerable homesteads to the poor and they obscured the antagonism between capitalists and wage workers, between capitalist and proletarian democracy. But you still lack the knowledge of proletarian economics which would enable you to recognize without a doubt that it is precisely on the republican ground of America that capitalism makes giant strides and reveals ever more clearly its twofold task of first enslaving the people for the purpose of freeing them in due time.

[kennethherrerablog]

These 31 Tips Will Give Your Resume an Edge in the 2019 Job Market

When you’re on the job hunt, you only have six seconds to hook a recruiter or future employer with your resume.

Six. Seconds.

And with the rise of applicant tracking systems (those doohickeys that scan your resume), figuring out what to include, what to trash, what to highlight and what to downplay on your resume is getting even more difficult.  

We already have an in-depth guide to writing a resume that should help you get started. And, we’ve covered some general guidelines for writing a resume for recent grads on writing a resume.

But with more than 7 million job openings in the U.S., we knew it was time to get serious — and give you a shotgun blast of tips that will help you stand out among the 6.5 million job seekers jostling through the labor market.

We chatted with several human resources and recruiting experts to find out the latest trends in resume writing and bring you inside knowledge about how to make yours stand out.

31 of the Best Resume Tips to You Get Noticed

Blasting your resume out likely won’t get you noticed, unfortunately.

That was the case for Austin Garcia-Cooper, a business development associate at Kobie Marketing in St. Petersburg, Florida, who found himself unemployed in 2018 when the startup he worked for went through layoffs.

“In pretty much all of my previous job hunts, I got lucky and was able to rely on various contacts to get me introductions to decision-makers at companies,” he said. “I hadn’t had to lean on a strong traditional resume, as I was able to almost go straight to the interview process in the past.”

This time, he knew he’d have to rely on a strong resume to hook recruiters.

These 31 tips should help you get started on your resume, and guarantee you get noticed.

Just Get Started on Writing Your Resume

Procrastination can be one of the biggest hurdles while writing your resume. It represents the whole of your working life and you want it to be absolutely perfect, right?

You’ll be constantly tweaking the document to tailor it to each job in which you apply, and to incorporate feedback from friends and even HR managers with whom you’ve interviewed. So it doesn’t have to start out perfect — it’s not a static document.

The key is to just sit down and get started on your resume right away, said Colin McIntosh, CEO of Sheets & Giggles, former recruiter, and author of the second most popular Reddit post of all time on the “jobs” subreddit — a resume guide.

“It’s like fishing without bait; make a resume on day one of a job hunt,” he said.

1. Ask yourself a set of questions before getting started

To get in the right mindset for writing your resume, start by asking yourself — and answering — a set of questions. According to Jessica Hernandez, founder of North Florida-based Great Resumes Fast, these can include:

What are you most proud of in your professional career? You’ll want to focus on accomplishments rather than specific job duties while filling out your resume. Ask yourself this question about each previous job.

How did you add value — efficiency, cost saving or just happiness — to the company at which you last worked? Recruiters and HR managers want to see quantifiable results when they look at your previous positions. Did a process you implemented lead to a 10% growth in sales?

Can you explain what you actually did at your previous positions? For recruiters, clarity is king when it comes to describing your previous positions. Explain to a friend what you did at a previous job — do they understand your role? Avoid jargon and cliches.

2. Block out time to write your resume

Whip out that bullet journal, planner or even your Google calendar and carve out a specific time frame — an hour or two — and sit down and write. Just think: If you don’t have a resume, you can’t get a job and you won’t get paid.

“Don’t wait because you’re nervous about rejection or [have a] fear of failure. Decision paralysis can be a killer when you’re overly worried about bad outcomes.”

3. Spend time poring over the job description/listing

Grab a red pen or highlighter, print out the job description and start highlighting words or phrases you see repeatedly. Once you’ve done that, circle the ones you know you have in common with the description.

For example, if you see “analytical thinker” several times and you consider yourself one, circle that. These will likely be keywords recruiters are looking for on your resume.

4. Reach Out on LinkedIn

Don’t be shy: Make a connection with someone at the company over LinkedIn and ask what key skills or qualities they might be looking for in a candidate. This will help you bolster those keywords.

“I actually did this, but didn’t until after a month or two of searching,” said Garcia-Cooper. “It was super helpful to pick someone’s brain who hires people or got hired for a similar job that you would want; they obviously did something right.”

5. Tweak your resume based on the jobs you’re applying for

Your resume should not be static. That is, you should be customizing it for each job you are chasing.

Garcia-Cooper applied for jobs in a variety of industries, which means he had to tailor his resume for each position. This isn’t uncommon, and you should be prepared to tweak your resume based on the position and keywords in each job description.

6. Pay someone to write it

This may not seem like much of a tip, but if you want to get right to the job hunt, pay someone else to write your resume. Take it from us, writing is hard, and there are plenty of companies that have sprung up out there offering resume-writing services.

Loren Margolis, CEO of Training & Leadership Success, suggests reading reviews of these companies and asking for resume samples before paying for the service.

“One easy rule to follow: If an agency or individual doesn’t show you their templates up front and explain why — for free — they’d want to make certain decisions on your format, don’t work with them,” McIntosh said.

7. Shell out cash for the design

If you’re not the design-savvy person, it might be worth to pay for a custom template to get you started. Don’t just go with the first free template you find in Microsoft Word.

Garcia-Cooper used Visual CV to design his resume instead of going with a template that’s already out in the wild. This is especially helpful if you’re not the creative type and will incorporate many of the tips we highlight below.

Keep Formatting Simple

It might be tempting to add color, graphics or even a headshot to make your resume stand out. But according to resume experts, it’s best to keep it as simple as possible.

You can always add inline links to your LinkedIn profile or personal portfolio on your resume if you want to show off your creative side.

8. Don’t choose a fancy font

Err on the boring side with your font selection. Recruiters are looking for something easy to read that won’t be distracting — think Arial or Georgia, said Margolis.

9. Stick with a classic color scheme

We get it, you want to wow a recruiter or future employer with your creative spark. But you’re not Elle Woods, and as much as it may hurt, you want your accomplishments to speak for themselves. A fancy font can distract from that.

“I’ve seen a lot more color in resumes recently from applicants,” said McIntosh. “But I wouldn’t recommend that. Black and white is always the way to go.”

10. Use bulleted lists under each previous position

Short bullet points will highlight your accomplishments while making it easy for future employers to scan your work history. Also, it should (hopefully) make you mindful of rambling too much about your job history.

Recruiters will spend between six and 10 seconds reading your resume, so you want to make it as skimmable as possible, Margolis said. Short bullet points will highlight your accomplishments while making it easy for future employers to scan your work history.

11. Write in the software you want, but save it as a .pdf

Submitting a Word document of your resume could cause an applicant-tracking system to ignore it and also give recruiters without Microsoft Office a headache. Save your resume as a .pdf to avoid any problems with cross-compatibility.

12. Stick to 1 1/2 pages or less

There is still some disagreement about resume length among HR professionals.

Margolis said it’s OK to write your resume so it ends up longer than one page — but stop at 1 ½. Recruiters are more inclined to read past the first page than they have been in the past, but remember, they’ll still give you only six to 10 seconds.

McIntosh remains in the one-page-only camp.

13. Be aware of white space

Try to let your resume breathe. Add a few carriage returns between sections, or use a template that formats text so it isn’t crammed together.

Your resume is a single document aimed at summing up your entire professional life, so it’s not a surprise that you’ll want to jam as much information into 1 ½ pages as possible. Don’t do it.

“You don’t want a recruiter to get tired reading your resume because it’s filled with so much font,” Margolis said.

14. Consider a website

Since you only have 1 1/2 pages to sum up your career, you might want to consider making a website to expand on your experience — or include your professional portfolio. Make sure it is optimized for mobile devices, since a recruiter might open it on their phone.

“That is a terrific way to showcase not just your resume, but also your background,” Margolis said. “You can create a story about how well qualified you are for the jobs your targeting.”

The Nitty-Gritty: What to Include on Your Resume

15. Think about accomplishments rather than roles and responsibilities

When you’re writing your resume, think more about what you have accomplished at each step of your career rather than what your responsibilities were. Did you edit a daily e-blast or have a hand in launching a first-of-its-kind online newsletter?

If you started with those questions from earlier in this post, you should have a good idea what you accomplished at each position.

16. Keywords are still king

Your resume will likely go through an applicant-tracking system, which will search for those keywords we discussed earlier. Recruiters will do the same as they skim your resume for those six seconds. So include the relevant phrases or words for the job description (those you highlighted and circled earlier) throughout your resume.

“However, while you want to incorporate keywords from the job posting in your resume, my advice is don’t get too crazy,” said Mikaila Turman, a vice president and expert in recruiting at Inflection, an Omaha, Nebraska-based company that uses big data to perform automated background checks.

17. Don’t include the dates in your education section

Regardless of how old you are, you can avoid any chance of age discrimination by excluding dates under the education section of your resume.

“Protect yourself and do not put graduation dates on your resume,” Hernandez said. “It’s pointless to do so.”

18. Consider omitting your first name

Don’t hide your name, but consider using your first initial to avoid any unconscious gender bias as well. McIntosh said this a positive trend he’s noticed in the world of resume-writing.

You should, however, still use your full name in the application and in your email.

19. Eliminate your address

Don’t put your exact address if you’re applying for jobs within the area. The street name and number will just add clutter.

But, what if you’re applying for a job in another state and don’t want to be at a disadvantage due to relocation? In that case, either exclude your location altogether, or add “Moving to:” in front of the city and state of the job to which you are applying.

20. Fill in the gaps

If you were truly unemployed, add a section in which you describe yourself as an independent consultant. Under the description, write that you needed some flexibility to take care of personal matters, McIntosh suggests.

When Garcia-Cooper was job hunting, he was working for his father’s landscaping businesses. But he didn’t include that on his resume because he didn’t think it was applicable experience.

He could have included it, one recruiter told him, because it shows that he was always working.

“I remedied this by realizing that there was relevant experience in almost all of my previous jobs,” he said. “It just came down to framing it correctly.”

21. Show some personality with an interests section

Including a section in which you list your hobbies and interests will help avoid being seen as a faceless resume and give something for recruiters to connect with.

“If you put “Seinfeld,” I promise someone will ask you what your favorite episode of Seinfeld is — (mine’s ‘The Soup Nazi’),” McIntosh said.

22. Don’t be afraid of life links

In the past, including links in your resume might trigger a spam filter through certain email clients, so human resources experts advised against including them. That’s changed, said Hernandez, and including links to your LinkedIn, personal website or portfolio can add depth to your resume without making it too long.

“I would say this very important — especially in 2019,” she said.

23. Get rid of the objective

Consider skipping the objective section at the top of your resume, which just takes up valuable space.

“The truth is, your objective is painfully obvious,” said Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, owner of Feather Communications, a resume-writing business in Wisconsin. “In fact, you wouldn’t be sending a resume if you didn’t want a new job.”

24. Be specific and avoid cliches

There’s nothing more grating for a recruiter than reading a mealy-mouthed jumble of cliches. And with the algorithms within applicant-tracking systems searching for specific words and phrases, it’s always best to be as specific and clear as possible in position titles, accomplishments and job responsibilities.

25. Avoid pronouns and use action verbs

Avoid using “I” or “me” while writing your resume. Use action verbs like “built” or “launched” at the beginning of bullet points.

“Resumes are like no other document you’ll ever write in that you’re supposed to sound like a caveman,” said Margolis.

26. Don’t try to quantify skills

Hernandez said you should avoid terms such as “proficient,” “experienced” and “skilled in” when describing software or skills. If you have some experience in Excel, just put “Excel” next to a bullet point in your skills section.

Make It Bulletproof: Proofread Your Resume

27. Print out your resume in a huge font size

You’ll probably read through your resume so many times on your computer screen that your eyes will cross. Printing it out will help you catch mistakes you might otherwise overlook.

Pro-tip: Use a much larger font to help yourself identify mistakes even more. There’s no quicker way for a resume to end up in the trash than being riddled with grammatical or spelling errors.

“Reading aloud is helpful, too,” said Margolis.

28. Have a friend read your resume

Ask one (or many) of your friends to read through your resume to try and catch any mistakes. You should also ask them to read it for clarity.

Does it convey exactly what you have accomplished? Is it clear what value you will bring to the company?

29. Pay a copy editor to read it

Go on Fiverr or Upwork and look for proofreaders or copy editors to take a look at your resume. Since it’s only one page, you’ll likely pay $5 or $10 — which could be worth it to catch a small mistake before a recruiter has a chance to notice it.

30. Use this naming convention for the file

Here’s how you should name your resume file: “[First name] [Last name] [Resume].pdf”. It will help recruiters identify whose resume they are looking at right away.

31. Ask for feedback if you get rejected

Most recruiters will be happy to provide feedback on your resume if you don’t happen to land that job you were chasing. In fact, that’s how Garcia-Cooper learned he should avoid leaving gaps in his work history.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

These 31 Tips Will Give Your Resume an Edge in the 2019 Job Market published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/