#can you tell I like griffin lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

luvbinnies · 1 year ago

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just like magic

Anton thinks he works really well under pressure, especially working with the healing department at the school. That was then ruined when you showed up in the healing coven all injured and bleeding on the floor and no one else around but him.

Genre: fluff, injured, humour cuz i cant be serious

Warnings: Lee soomin. swearing, reader is bleeding cuz they got bitten, mentions of dying and being kidnapped but that cuz reader is dramatic. It’s kinda unhinged lol.

a/n: takes places in the owl house’s magic school hexside but kinda diff idk lol. I unhingely wrote this out of nowhere 😭

Wc: 3k

You knew that convincing principal Lee Soomin to take two magic tracks was hard, but you still tried anyway. Unfortunately for you he didn’t agree and forced you to still choose one. You prompted on the potions track because even through that you were still able to somehow mix different types of magic together, just in secret.

You have recently had an obsession with the beast keeping track and had secretly been sneaking into the coven whenever you can to practice out different types of magic with the animals they had in the shed.

But due to the fact you were only supposed to be learning potions magic you never learned that every animal had a special link with their companion, so meeting new people they don’t tend to always be as welcoming as you would’ve liked.

So that’s what led you to be stumbling around the school grounds trying to find your way to the dorms. Holding onto your side where a griffin had bitten you, you were also really woozy because before biting you it had shoved you causing you to go flying across the shed hitting a wall.

You couldn’t be asking anyone for help, scared that they will rat you out in mixing magics.

Again.

Holding your weight against the school walls trying to find the staircase, before you get knocked down by someone standing in front of you.

“Oh sorry about that, yn?” The person in front of you with a soft gentle voice says. You’re pretty sure you’ve heard it before.

“Yn what are you doing here it’s almost past curfew- ARE YOU BLEEDING!!”

The raise in the person’s voice startled you and caused you to jump at him to shut his mouth with your hand, pressing him against the walls you were just struggling to stand next to.

It also surprised you when you got a good look at the boy in front of you, Anton. You’ve seen him around the school loads of times. You didn’t have any classes with him because you were only allowed to take potion classes and his healing classes. But you met him once through a mutual friend, Sohee. You remember when you first met him he was incredibly shy and wouldn’t even look you in the eye, but then you started to ask him a bunch of healing magic questions and he started talking a lot more with you as you listened.

That was probably the most you’ve ever talked to him, but since then you started to see him everywhere you went. You almost thought he was stalking you, but it seemed more that you saw him more because you started to notice him more. Also the two of you have a lot of mutual friends, so it does make sense to him.

You’d always catch him at your grudgby practices since that one encounter, you weren’t sure if he showed up before you two properly met, but he most likely did since he has other friends on the team too.

Even though you don’t talk to him much, hearing the boy scream as loud as he did shocked you because he was always very soft spoken. Even at the grudgby games you’d see him in the stands cheer but you would never actually even hear him in the crowd.

Though since he’s gotten the job to help with the healings around the school a couple of months ago, you haven’t seen him around the field anymore. It didn’t bother you or anything.

But right now he was still trying to make noises with your hand on his mouth, they were more noises of concern for your well being at the moment.

You kept checking right and left before telling him to shush as you were letting go of his mouth. As you did your eyes went straight to his lips.

Just to monitor whether or not he’ll make another sound.

Maybe you were staring too intensely at his lips because his face started to get as red as the blood dripping out of your body. Or maybe you were losing too much blood, you weren’t sure.

His eyes refuse to look at you, just like when you first met him.

“Anton,” You start, trying to get his attention. “Don’t tell anyone about this.”

Poor boy was completely flushed red with you leaning up against him, pushing his back to the wall. “Yn, you’re bleeding all over the floor and leaving a trail.”

You look back to the direction you came from and see that he was right. There was blood all over the floors and walls, with your bloody handprints.

Bloody handprint…

Looking back at Anton seeing that his face is partly red due to the blood you accidentally smeared all over his face. Lowering your gaze, blood was all over his and your clothes from you practically putting all of your weight on him now.

Also noticing that he had his hands around your waist, trying to hold you up right.

“I’ll manage.” You say as nonchalant as you can given your circumstances, giving him a weak smile.

As you try to pry his hands from your waist he replies. “I-I can help you.”

Letting go of his hands. “No it’s okay.”

But one step forward and you start falling to your doom.

Luckily Anton was just standing there awkwardly when you were trying to let go of his hands and watch as you attempt that step and miserably fail, but at least he was nice enough to help catch you before you fell.

“I’ll open up the infirmary and help you-”

“Nah Anton, it's good.”

“You’re literally dying.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Oh my god.”

Anton struggles trying to get the keys from back pocket while holding a stubborn you trying to be the independent boss you are as you’re losing consciousness.

“Here I’ll get them.” You reach your hand in his back pocket. “Why are the keys soft?”

“That’s the wrong pocket yn.”

“Ah.”

Anton hopes your dying state doesn’t make you realize how red his face is, but he truly hopes you aren’t actually dying.

“Got it!” Anton takes the keys from you and quickly opens the door.

He’s glad that there isn’t anyone there at the moment so he can take care of you without you having to panic about getting in trouble for whatever stupid idea you were doing. But he was also terrified because you were probably the most injured person he was going to help his entire three months of working here.

Also because it was you.

How could you simply sit on the medical bed covered with blood everywhere, going in and out of consciousness, eyes barely staying open, with a stupid smile on your face trying to convince him you’re perfectly fine.

Maybe it was the moonlight from the window across the bed you were on that was making you look so majestical as you are right now.

But Anton knew it wasn’t that, because you always looked so incredible since the first time he saw you in the library. He couldn’t even look at you properly.

God he hopes you don’t hate him in the morning.

“Yn, I’m going to need to lift your shirt to see the wound.” He asks you slowly.

You show off your theatrical smile at him. “What wound?” As if he didn’t just save you from your devastating doom moments before.

Realizing you weren’t going to get out of this, you nod.

Anton takes a seat next to your bed as he gently lifts your bloody shirt up. He doesn’t even need to lift the shirt half way and can see the big bite at your side.

He knows you’re staring at him, watching his features to look for signs of emotions and it’s not helping him. He’s not the best actor given your question. “Is it bad?”

“No, i-it’s fine just look over there.” He points at the window. You turn your head to stare out into the nighttime, it calms Anton down a little knowing you won’t see this and that you’re no longer staring at him.

“Who or what did this to you?” He questions.

“A griffin.” You state as if it’s just the most casual thing ever.

“Do I want to know why or how?”

“Nope.” You continue to just blankly stare out to the moon as Anton does whatever he does.

He gets up quickly, moves around a lot and gets stuff, almost tripping on the other beds, before coming back next to you. “This might hurt, I’m sorry.”

You’re still staring at the moon as he speaks, “Why would you be sorry it’s the Griffins fault I’m like this.” You lied completely because honesty is boring when you’re dying.

Anton does whatever healing magic he does under your shirt, you take a deep breath preparing for pain. He sees this and tries to help by saying. “How about you talk about something unrelated to the injury? Maybe it will help you ease your mind before I do it.”

You nod. “I don’t really ever get to appreciate the moon, but it’s really beautiful.”

“You’re really beautiful.”

“Huh- AHGKC-”

Both your confusion and pained noise gets interrupted by Anton. Because he did his stupid magic trick to let you live and the pain you felt. You couldn’t even scream about it properly because pretty shy boy Anton shoved tissues into your mouth.

It was probably for the best since you were so intense about no one knowing you were dying. Honestly if Anton wasn’t where he was tonight you might’ve died on the school grounds.

It's sad though, dying in school.

As you were dying from the pain, Anton kept repeatedly saying “I’m sorry.” While holding onto your hand, with pain in his eyes seeing you like this.

When the pain stopped, Anton helped you lay your head down onto the pillow behind.

“You need rest, ok. Don’t try to get up please. I’ll check up on you in the early morning before the other healers come and clean up the mess.”

As he was about to get up, the hand that he was holding for you couldn’t get out of your grip. “Please.”

He looks to you barely awake, weak and tired from honestly he has no idea. You are attempting to ride a griffin. “Anton, will you stay with me? Please.”

You gave him a weak smile and that boy was done for. He sat back on that stool and laid his head next to yours on the bed. He’s not too sure where the confidence for both of your heads to be sharing beds came from but he didn’t care at that moment.

He just watched as your moonlight-shined face relaxed and you fell into a slumber.

The bright light shining in your face is what makes you stir from your sleep. But the unfamiliar warmth of someone’s arm around your body got you questioning things.

All you could see was blood.

There was blood on the pillow, the blanket, the bedsheets, the hand you were holding. Why were you holding someone’s hand?

Oh right, you almost died in front of Anton last night.

Is he hugging what he thinks is your dead corpse?

Are you dead? You really were confused. The last thing you remember is Anton calling you beautiful and then shoving tissues into your mouth like the gentleman he is.

The questions stop flooding your mind when you get to observe the position the two of you are in.

Your entire body was lying down on the bed, like a normal person would be sleeping like. Anton’s head and arms were on the bed but the rest of his body was completely twisted so his head and arms could be on the bed.

His head was next to yours, still smeared with blood all over because of you. One of his hands holding onto your bloody hand and the other wrapped around your resting body. With the rest of him just sitting on the stool.

You winced and thought that he stayed there all night with you in that position. Not knowing the time and not really caring at the moment. Carefully you grab onto his lower body and drag him onto the little bed next to you.

You thought you did quite a good job at not waking him up, but you guess you were wrong when he starts to stir. But for some reason you didn’t want to move just yet.

So you cause your body to go limp and wrap your arm around him so it would be difficult for him to get up and you pretend to still be sleeping.

But what you did was for nothing because he was easily able to get out of your hold when he fully woke up.

Feeling his stare as you sleep. Totally not weird. You hear him whisper something but you couldn’t make out what.

Next thing you knew is that he was carrying you bridal style off from the bed. You truly hope you were not being kidnapped.

That wasn’t the case when you remembered the familiar path to your dorm way. You really weren’t sure if you were supposed to wake up in this scenario but you just wanted to relish the moment of being in this stupid boy’s arms.

You heard the familiar voices of your roommates and some chattering before you felt your body be gently placed onto your bed.

This felt like a good opportunity to just continue sleeping, since you never have time for that ever since you started sneaking around the school grounds.

But that was ruined when the dorm room door shut and you felt your roommate throw pillows at you.

“Wake up right now and tell me why THE Anton Lee Chanyoung just carried you to the dorm.”

You don’t budge. You feel their body come closer to you and start shaking you asking you a shit ton of questions. You heard your two other roommates having a conversation of their own.

“See I told you Anton likes them, you owe twenty bucks.”

That made you shot up awake.

After escaping and half explaining why you were all bloody and with Anton all night, you tried all day to find said boy himself. But you couldn’t.

The healing coven place you were at was closed off because there was blood everywhere and no one knew whose blood it was and all you could do was hope you washed off all the blood on your body. Anton however wasn’t anywhere in sight.

You couldn’t pay attention to any of your classes all day long, but it didn’t matter too much because it was just potions anyways. Always the same things over and over again.

You couldn’t attempt checking out the healing classes without possibly getting in trouble all over again.

The next best thing was at grudgby practice asking his friends about him. But those losers weren’t any help.

“Oh, looking for a lover boy I see.” Seunghan gives you a wink before you hear a similar conversation you heard earlier today.

“Sohee, I told you yn was into Anton give me 50.” Shotaro cheers with a smile on his face, but turns and makes eye contact with you, his smile drops, realizing you heard.

He started panicking, not knowing you were completely clueless about any sort of emotional feelings about anything. But a twinkle in his eye sparkles and points behind you. “Yn look over there.”

You turn to where he was pointing at and see just the boy you were looking for.

Before you knew it you were running up to him.

“Hey, I was looking everywhere for you.”

“Hi,” He replies, not looking at you all over again.

You frown, not sure if you made him uncomfortable. “So… don’t you usually help with the healing coven at this time?”

“Oh right,” He scratches his head, looking down at his shoes like they are super interesting or whatever. “I got fired.” He says it's the coolest thing in the world.

Your jaw dropped and you couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“Yn before you say anything, I’ll explain. I realized you were playing with other magics again and when I came back from bringing you to your dorm the other healers had come back so I simply admitted it was me. Lee Soomin got upset at me, but since it was my first time doing so, getting fired was the only punishment.”

That explanation did not help you with your grief of his job. But he seemed all fine and smiley about it. You just wanted to kiss those stupid lips on his face, you didn’t though. Him and you would probably combust.

“I didn’t like that job anyway, I don’t get to see you practice anymore because of it.”

Him saying that now got you all smiley and shit.

“Thank you for all of that Anton.” Now it was your turn to be all shy and not look at him. Which was stupid because he has a nice face and you should be appreciating it more.

“Hey, it’s all good. Now I get to be your own personal healer.” Now you just wanted to cry and giggle over this boy.

“And shove more tissues in my mouth?”

“If you want me to.” You thought that was really weird but couldn’t care less the second he grabbed your hand, just like he did on the bed as you were dying.

“You know, Lee Soomin told me you were a bad influence on me when I told him it was me and that I shouldn’t hang out with you.” He swings your arms back and forth together.

“Well Lee Soomin doesn’t deserve rights.”

Bye I’m going to go cry over my loneliness and over chem again.

#riize scenarios #riize anton #riize angst #riize x reader #riize fluff #riize imagines #riize au #riize sungchan #riize shotaro #anton riize #riize seunghan #riize #riize wonbin #riize oneshots #riize drabbles #anton lee #anton x reader #anton imagines

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montammil · 5 months ago

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Forever Be Mine, part 6

This one is pretty relaxed compared to the last few parts lol. Here's the masterlist!

CW: Stockholm syndrome, manipulation, mentions of torture/murder, implied noncon, intimate whumper

...

"Felicity? Can I ask you something?"

"Make it quick, I'm a little busy. If you need money, I can send you some later today."

"I'm not Griff. I was wondering if you had any... relationship advice?"

"And you called me out of all people?" Felicity snorted. "I'm too much of a workaholic to even consider love. As long as you haven't been stalking them, I'm sure you'll be fine." Rowan went silent. "Goddammit, Rowan. Again?"

Rowan wouldn't dare tell her he went even farther than just that. "He hates me. What do I do?"

"I don't know the guy, I don't know what he's into. Probably people not creeping on him," she huffed. "Give him something he likes--and not something you like that you want him to like. Not a hundred roses or some expensive brand of wine he's probably never heard of. Treat him like an actual human with thoughts and emotions and not some pampered pet. Just... be normal." There was talking in the background. "I gotta go. I think you'd have more luck asking Griffin about this."

As if, Rowan bitterly thought. Griffin's idea of romance was fast food and video games. "Fine. Talk to you later."

"Don't do anything stupid." And then she hung up.

Rowan sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at his ceiling. This entire time he had been forcing Sawyer to conform to his ideas of romance, so perhaps it was time to take some advice for once. He was desperate. Hopefully after this, Sawyer would see him for the perfect boyfriend he was, and come crawling into his arms with love and devotion.

An idea popped into his head.

Sawyer flinched when the shed door creaked open. Rowan knelt down, draping his large coat over his shivering form. He cut the rope and helped Sawyer into the warm coat.

"Let's get you inside, babydoll. You're ice-cold," Rowan murmured, holding Sawyer's hand and walking him inside the cabin.

Rowan brought him to the bathroom, and to Sawyer's shock, left him alone to his own devices. Sawyer turned on the bathtub's tap, waiting until the water was steaming. He slowly sunk into it. It was heaven compared to the freezing temperature he was kept at in the shed. He sunk lower until only his eyes were peeking over the water level.

Once he was warmed up, his mind wandered to Rowan's behavior. Despite not knowing him for long, he figured the first thing his captor would do would be to ramble and insist on giving him zero personal space.

Did he grow tired of him? Did this mean he'd let him go? Or...

Sawyer shook his head. He tried not to think too hard about it and washed himself as fast as possible. When he was done, he climbed out and dried off, finding a pair of neatly folded clothes on the counter. He put them over his aching limbs, just a normal t-shirt and sweatpants. He exited the bathroom to find Rowan waiting for him, holding a bowl of what he assumed was tomato basil soup.

"How was your bath?" Rowan asked, motioning to the couch. Sawyer obeyed and sat down beside him.

"Nice. Thanks," Sawyer whispered.

"Here. You must be hungry." He took the bowl from Rowan and held it close, letting the heat warm him up. "Eat up." He picked up the spoon and dipped it into the red liquid. The spoon was trembling in his hand.

Rowan didn't miss it, because of course he didn't. "Do you want me to feed you?"

Sawyer shook his head. "No. I got it." He didn't, but there was no way he was going to be coddled even more by his kidnapper. He ignored Rowan's burning gaze on him and he ate the soup in small bites. He couldn't understand Rowan, nor did he really want to. All he could do was keep him happy enough so he didn't end up back in that awful shed. He offered his empty bowl. "Thanks."

He smiled and took it. "You're welcome. Stay right there, I got you a present!"

If he had learnt anything about Rowan these past few weeks, it was that his gifts sucked. Sawyer never wanted to look at expensive jewelry or roses ever again. He wondered what horrible gift he was going to receive now. Probably a collar, at this point.

Rowan came back holding something small in his arms. Sawyer curiously stood up to get a better look at it, just to see a small white cat curled up in his arms. Sawyer froze. Rowan approached him with a huge smile on his face.

"What..." Sawyer could barely speak, his hand reached out to the cat, who happily rubbed his face on his palm. "What did you do?"

"I knew you liked cats, and even though I'm not the most fond of animals, love is about making sacrifices. And before you say anything, I didn't buy him from a breeder." He handed the tiny fluff ball to Sawyer. "He had previous owners who got rid of him because he's deaf, or so that's what the shelter said. He's perfectly healthy."

Sawyer looked at him then at the cat. "You're giving me a cat?"

"Yes! Don't you love him?" Sawyer nodded. "See? I'm a good partner!" Rowan smiled proudly.

If Sawyer weren't so distracted by the cat in his arms, he would've scoffed. Instead, he cradled the furball to his chest. "What's his name?"

"Whatever you want it to be, my love."

He frowned and rubbed a finger between the kitten's eyes. "Casper." He still hated Rowan's guts, and he felt anxious now that a cat was in this fucked up situation, but it was hard to be mad at him right now. He was a sucker for cute things, and this fluffy creature was purring contentedly in his hold. He almost forgot that this whole scenario was forced upon him by Rowan. Almost.

Rowan placed his hands on Sawyer's waist, but didn't push things any further. He leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Do you like him?"

Sawyer didn't want to be too thankful, lest Rowan got ideas that he owed him something. Besides that, he still hated his guts. "Yeah. He's cute." He hugged Casper a little closer to him.

"I knew you'd love him!" Rowan beamed. "Now that I have your approval, I'll get some toys for him. I already got food and a litter box. Anything specific you want for him? I've never owned any animals, so I don't know much about taking care of one." He sheepishly smiled. "Maybe a collar and a bed for him? I'll let you pick them out, and I can pick them up from the store."

"Uh, yeah, a collar, and a bed would be great. Thank you," Sawyer mumbled, still hugging the cat tightly. "And maybe a scratching post."

He didn't like the happy expression on Rowan's face, the bastard didn't deserve to be pleased, but he couldn't help himself when a soft cat was purring in his arms. He always wanted a cat, but due to money being tight, he never wanted to bring another living creature into his shitty living situation.

And even now he didn't, because it was somehow worse... but it'd be nice for someone other than Rowan to keep him company. It was selfish, he knew, but he was so lonely here that he was willing to subject a cat to Rowan.

"What is your ideal date?" Rowan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Not with you."

"Sawyer," Rowan warned. He placed his hand on Sawyer's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

He sighed. "I dunno. I haven't been on many dates. An aquarium sounds cute, but I know that'd be too public for you, right?" It was meant as a sarcastic jab, but Rowan took it genuine and nodded. Sawyer resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I like ice skating, but I guess that's also not your type of scene. Whatever, doesn't matter anyway. I'm gonna go to bed."

Rowan watched the man walk off with Casper still in his arms. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

...

"What's this?"

"A lake to skate on! I made sure it was thick enough to walk on without breaking. And after this, we can have some hot cocoa and a nice cuddle session by the fire."

"Uh... that's... cool." Sawyer scratched the back of his neck. "I guess. But uh... why?"

"Because you wanted to go ice skating. And since a public skating rink would be trouble, I decided this would do. Again, I made sure it's safe, so don't worry your pretty little head about that." Rowan booped Sawyer's nose. "I ordered us some ice skates too, of course." He grabbed two pairs of black ice skates from the car's trunk. He led him to a log, brushing off the snow, and then gestured for Sawyer to sit.

Sawyer did so, albeit reluctantly. He watched Rowan kneel to slide his shoes off and replace them with the skates. It got harder to resist the urge to kick him when Rowan pressed a kiss to his ankle as he laced up the boots for him.

As Rowan put on his own pair, Sawyer got curious. "Have you ever ice skated before?"

"Well... no, but it can't be that hard, right? How different could it be from roller-skating?" Sawyer chuckled at his ignorance. Oh, he'd have fun watching him tumble around. "I'm excited to try it with you." He pulled Sawyer up, walking awkwardly to the frozen lake. "Just... hold onto me so you don't fall," Rowan advised, intertwining their gloved fingers.

Sawyer didn't know why he didn't pull away. "Alright," he agreed, his other hand clutching onto Rowan's arm.

Rowan stepped onto the ice, wobbling slightly. "Oh, okay, that's a bit harder than I expected." He slid his feet forwards, pulling Sawyer with him. "You're doing okay, right?"

He couldn't help but grin. "Yeah." Rowan looked ridiculous with his lanky limbs sprawled everywhere and his ungraceful movements. It was the funniest thing Sawyer had witnessed in a long while. "Having fun?"

"Oh, yeah, a blast." He slipped and nearly fell, catching himself with his hand on the ground. Sawyer covered his mouth, muffling his laughter. Rowan glared up at him. "Okay, okay, laugh it up. You have a clear advantage over me here." He pushed himself back up to stand. "Help me." Sawyer obliged, extending his hand to Rowan. "How did you even get so good at this?"

Sawyer pulled him up. "Ice skating was a huge hobby of mine when I was a kid. My parents wanted me to do hockey, the more 'manly' sport, but I liked figure skating. They eventually just gave up."

"Do you still ice skate? I don't recall ever seeing you go to any skating rinks..."

Right when Sawyer was starting to relax, he was reminded this man was insane. "I don't. I had to sell my skates when I went broke." He bit his tongue. He hated telling people personal information, let alone people like this. But there wasn't much he could do about it now. He couldn't afford to upset Rowan anymore. He didn't want to be punished again, and he definitely didn't want to be thrown in that godforsaken shed.

He didn't want to see that ever again. Crazy how that was less than a day ago, and now Rowan had the gall to act like none of that happened.

"That's a shame. I bet you looked lovely on the ice." He kissed his forehead. "Well, whenever you like, we always have this area to skate together. At least until it starts melting." Rowan chuckled and moved his legs like a newborn deer attempting to stand. He had fallen again, but he managed to catch himself in time.

A sadistic part of Sawyer sparked whenever he saw Rowan stumble around like an idiot. It felt nice seeing him being the one out of his element, considering everything else he'd put him through. He couldn't help but take enjoyment from the rare opportunity of seeing the usually overly-confident and arrogant Rowan in an uncomfortable position.

Soon enough they both grew tired (aka Rowan was done embarrassing himself) and retreated to the cabin.

Rowan sat Sawyer down and prepared a cup of hot chocolate for him, adding some marshmallows and whipped cream on top. He set it on the coffee table and grabbed a blanket from the couch to drape it over Sawyer. Casper settled on Sawyer's lap and purred loudly, seeking pets.

Sawyer took the mug and blew on it. "Thank you," he mumbled before drinking some of the warm liquid.

"No problem, sweetheart." He sat on the couch next to him and placed his hand on his thigh. Sawyer looked down at it but didn't move away. "How was it?"

"How was what?"

"Our date." Rowan squeezed his leg, thumb rubbing circles on the inside of his thigh. "You didn't say much."

"Well, I was busy laughing at you," Sawyer pointed out, continuing to drink his hot cocoa. He licked away some foam that clung to his lip. Rowan stared at him intently, almost hungrily. "But it was... fine." He paused. "I guess."

"That's it? I expected a little more from you. Especially considering everything I did for you," Rowan scolded, his tone dangerously low. His hand stopped moving and tightened on his leg. Sawyer shivered. "I bought you a fucking cat. I skated with you even though it's freezing out. I cooked your favorite meal. I held back from touching you when I desperately wanted to." He leaned closer. "And I get nothing but a 'fine'?"

"I thought this was to make up for looking me in a damn freezing shed, not to guilt me into kissing your ass," Sawyer replied bluntly.

Rowan scowled. "Don't get snippy with me."

His word choice made Sawyer snort. "Well, sorry I'm feeling 'snippy' after being stalked, kidnapped, branded, and watching you kill a man. Forgive me for not being in a stellar mood." Rowan stood up, and Casper jumped off his lap at the sudden movement. Sawyer realized he made a mistake and was quick to amend it. "I didn't mean it, please don't put me back there."

When Rowan went silent, opting to stare at him, Sawyer realized he wanted him to continue.

"I'm thankful for everything you've done for me... and I loved our date. I'm sorry I'm so nonchalant about everything, I haven't been in a healthy relationship in years. This is just new to me." Sawyer's lip wobbled, only at the thought of being placed in the freezing cold again.

Rowan folded his arms. "I understand that, but I've been so patient with you. I think I deserve something in return, don't I?"

Great, now Sawyer didn't know how to further manipulate himself out of this one. Then, an idea popped in his mind. He dramatically sighed. "I just wished you'd see me for more than sex."

That was all it took for Rowan to fall for his bait. "Sawyer," he began softly, his scowl turning into a concerned frown, "is that all you think I'm after from you?" Sawyer shrugged and averted his eyes, faking embarrassment. Rowan had already fallen for similar acts in the past, but when it came to Sawyer, all logic went out the window. "Oh, honey, that's not true. I don't just want your body, I want everything of yours. Your mind, body, and soul belongs to me, and I want to cherish it all. I don't know why you would ever think so low of me."

Sawyer lowered his head, fighting back a smirk. "Sorry. I'm sorry, it's just hard to believe that sometimes. I'm used to guys being like that."

"I'm not those types of men, my love."

"I know." Rowan was worse. "It's just... that's why I have a hard time showing I'm grateful for things. Because people have done so much for me in the past, just because they wanted a quick fuck." He took joy in seeing how guilty Rowan looked. Good. "So I'm sorry I've been so dismissive. I'll try to be more grateful."

"Oh, sweetheart." Rowan placed a hand on his cheek. "I'll prove it to you. That I'm not like those men. That I truly care about you, not just your body."

Sawyer wasn't buying any of it. But he had Rowan right where he wanted him. Rowan was eating out the palm of his hand, like an eager dog wanting attention. "How?"

"We can cuddle, and watch what ever you want." Rowan grabbed Sawyer's hands, running his thumbs over his knuckles. "I know I can be impatient sometimes when it comes to more... intimate activities, but I'll slow down. Whatever you need. Cuddling you and having your full attention is more than enough for me right now."

"Okay," Sawyer replied simply, making sure not to let his fake shyness slip. He didn't want to oversell this.

Yet the 'for now' didn't go unnoticed. Sawyer had no doubt Rowan would eventually expect more from him again. He just had to hope by then he could manage to escape without incident.

"Then it's a deal!" Rowan beamed. He practically dragged him to the bedroom, tossing Sawyer onto the mattress. "Sorry," Rowan chuckled. Sawyer had to admit, Rowan was incredibly strong, especially for a guy of his build. He easily lifted him and tossed him around like he was light as a feather. Sawyer hoped that wouldn't turn into something disturbing. "Scoot over a bit, I'm going to set up the movie."

Sawyer had to admit, being around Rowan wasn't as insufferable as it was before. Sure, he still despised him, but... when he wanted to, he could be sweet.

Well, as sweet as a manic kidnapper could be.

Rowan let Sawyer choose from the list of movies, to which he settled on a nostalgic 90's film. Rowan wasn't too interested in it, but if it made Sawyer happy, he was glad. He was too busy staring at Sawyer to actually pay attention to the screen. Sawyer was aware of this and refused to give Rowan the satisfaction of him meeting his gaze.

Rowan nuzzled his face into the crook of Sawyer's neck and wrapped an arm around his waist. He peppered kisses along his shoulder and collarbone. Sawyer remained tense under the affectionate touch, not allowing himself to enjoy it even in the slightest.

He tried not to be annoyed with Rowan constantly interrupting his viewing to shower him in attention, but he had a feeling this would happen.

"I'm surprised you're not into this movie," Sawyer muttered. "Do you not like nostalgic things?"

Rowan paused in his ministrations. "Hm? No, I do. I just didn't watch much TV as a child, so I don't know these films. I'm sure it's wonderful." He pressed a kiss to his pulse point. "I'd much rather focus on you anyway."

Sawyer suppressed a sigh of frustration. "Alright then."

Halfway through the movie, Casper hopped on the bed and flopped between Sawyer and Rowan. Sawyer cracked a smile and patted the bed to coax him closer, so he could pet him. Casper purred happily and headbutted Sawyer's hand.

Rowan was less happy. "This is our moment, can't he wait?" he whined.

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "He's a cat, Rowan. He can't see what we're doing. He just wants cuddles."

"So do I!" Rowan exclaimed indignantly.

"You're such a child." Sawyer rolled his eyes, but still scooted closer to Rowan's side, just to shut him up. He leaned against Rowan's chest, keeping a hand on Casper's head to stroke him. He could feel Rowan grinning above him and he repressed the urge to shove him away in disgust. He focused on the screen in front of them, determined to ignore the arms wrapping around him possessively.

It still felt nice to relax for the first time since he had been kidnapped. Not that he was warming up to Rowan, surely not... Sawyer just appreciated having his nerves calmed after that horrible week he endured.

Before the ending credits finished rolling, Sawyer's eyelids grew heavy and he found himself dozing off, head resting against Rowan's chest. He heard Rowan's soft chuckling and a kiss being pressed against his hairline. He grumbled, too tired to care about the intimacy, and just sunk deeper against Rowan's warmth.

...

Taglist: @morning-star-whump

#whump #rowan oc #sawyer oc #felicity oc #yandere whumper #whumper x whumpee #whumpee x whumper #creepy whumper #domestic whump #stockholm syndrome #manipulation #manipulative whumpee #whumper #whumpee

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mrfartpowered · 6 months ago

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you don’t hate Howard, you hate fatphobic tropes

Here at Mr Fart Powered Dot Com, I’m a long-time hater of the “fat best friend” trope and a long-time lover of jerkass characters, so I think I’m uniquely qualified to comment on this LOL

The biggest critiques I see of Howard are as follows: he’s gross, he’s stupid, he’s selfish, he’s lazy. Below the cut, I deconstruct each of these four criticisms not as faults of Howard, but faults of the writing, largely as a result of fatphobia.

These are all traits associated with the fat idiot trope, popularized by Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin. Think about any other character who possess all of the above characteristics. Far more often than not, they’re a fat character. Plenty of non-fat characters possess any of those traits individually — selfishness, stupidity, laziness, and grossness are not exclusive to fat characters. Nor do they inherently make a character 'bad,' irredeemable, or otherwise unlikeable! But all too often, especially in dated media, we see this flimsy, weak writing apply to the fat villain...or the fat comic relief...or the fat best friend.

Howard falls victim to these ugly, annoying 'fat guy' tropes whenever the writing is in need of a cheap laugh, or when they need to make Randy look extra good. Howard does have unique, interesting traits, but they are painfully underutilized in exchange for role fulfillment as the comic relief.

Stupidity

Contrary to what the show wants us to believe, Howard is not a complete idiot. His intelligence may not be of the academic variety (and even this is debatable), but I would argue he is more clever than Randy. Of the two of them, Howard's got more common sense. Randy misinterprets almost every lesson the Nomicon gives him, while H quickly understands each riddle he gets the chance to know about. (See “a ninja’s choice must be chosen by his own choosing,” “don’t go in someone else’s house,” “when facing an unfamiliar foe, seek an unlikely ally.”)

You could argue against this point in Shloomp! There It Is, where he literally gets to see the lesson as it is presented in the nomicon and doesn’t get it. But I’d argue that this was purposeful mischaracterization in order to further the plot, a point which will unfortunately recur in this essay. The writers care more about Howard as a tool than as a character, but instead of using the capabilities they build within him, they default to stereotypes.

Where conventional academics are concerned, we have one concrete example of his abilities: Howard is incredible at chess. It’s the iconic nerd game; it requires strategy, careful thinking, and the ability to predict your opponent’s moves. Who cares that he doesn't know the pieces' names? Who cares that he doesn’t abide by typical strategies? He can kick artificially-intelligent ass at the game, not to mention follow someone else's plays the way most people follow a football game.

And he's got street smarts that save Randy's ass on multiple occasions. He's more sociable, a better liar, and a quick thinker in stressful situations. Much of this particular point is pulled from @cunningweiner ‘s brain, who pointed out that Howard is really well-received by crowds (Heidi’s MeCast, the talent show, the Tummynator). Another interesting instance of this is Howard’s time as the Ninja — both the fake monster drill ninja, and the actual Ninja. He may not have accomplished his duties as a hero, but the onlookers Absolutely Ate Up his crowd work. He’s not the most physically willing guy around, but he knows how to appeal to an audience. His major flaw in remaining a well-liked public figure is that his ego gets real damn big, real damn fast. But he’s 15! If you blame a teenager for having empathy and esteem issues, I don’t know what to tell you.

Despite his emotional immaturity, Howard is wise beyond his years as a businessman. Before we move forward, I need to tell you: look at this section purely from a business standpoint. You have to forget morals, you have to forget standards, this is Disney XD meta and we are analyzing a man named Weiner, okay?

Okay. Howard embarks on a total of three business endeavors throughout this show, and each one is highly successful. Ninja Agent, weapon reseller, and McFist-o-plex manager. He embodied “work smarter, not harder” every time. Being an agent takes social skill and smooth talking, and clearly he appealed to a wide range of clients (not to mention earned their trust! What would you say if someone called you up and said “yeah, I manage Superman. Want him to appear in a commercial for you?”). Being a manager requires delegation skills and good memory. Reselling Ninja weapons is honestly just genius and I can’t believe he’s the first guy to do it.

Everyone around Howard, and Big H himself, views him as a dumbass. But time and time again, the episodes show us his mental capabilities! Imagine how much fun the writers could’ve had if they’d leaned on a lazy genius trope instead of a fat idiot.

Grossness

I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t think of a single thin character who relies on gross-out humor. Take, for example, Total Drama, a franchise with a bodily diverse cast and a heavy emphasis on gross-out humor. I mean, there’s an entire episode in the original season where every single character pukes onscreen. TD overall utilizes irreverent humor, but while grossness is a major player, it is not the only source of comedy.

And then you’ve got Owen, the only fat character in the original cast. His whole shtick is being fat, greedy, and nasty. Other characters will fart and burp and overeat — all things that Owen does frequently — but they also have other gags. Maybe they’re bitchy, or they’re geeky, or they’re a literal convict. Owen does not enjoy the luxury of character depth. He is only good for grossing out the audience. (Side tangent: Owen has notably made me laugh out loud a handful of times over the course of the four seasons he featured in. But guess what! Every single one of those laughs was begotten from a rare moment when, instead of farting or burping or eating something he shouldn’t, the writers stepped outside the ‘Owen zone’ and gave him a joke unrelated to his fatness. Fatphobic humor is truly a plague.)

I know I’m being a bit heavy-handed, but I want to emphasize how similar that is to RC9GN! Randy does schnasty shit too sometimes, but he gets to be funny in other ways. Grossness is Howard’s primary mode of comedy. During my first watch-through of the show, I remember being outraged at Howard’s tendency to eat Randy’s food, which, of course, was followed by digestion noises or farts. I was too angry to write down which episodes, but I counted four separate instances where they used that exact convention specifically to get Randy angry at Howard, thus catalyzing the episode’s storyline. (At some point I will have to go back and fact-check that, but we’re 900 words deep at this point and this has been in my drafts for over a month, so we move forward for now okay!!)

We do get to see flashes of other humor from Howard, especially into Season 2! His cleverness and apathy make for hilarious setups. But even these instances are undercut by something foul. An example that comes to mind is Fear Factor, a perfectly fine episode — one that I love quite a lot — except for the very last gag. Really? Howard gets to be normal-funny the entire episode, until the last minute? The idea that his biggest fear is running out of food literally only works because he is fat. Had this joke been given to any other character, it probably wouldn’t have even made it to storyboards. Even worse, if Howard had not been fat, this joke would never have been conceptualized in the first place. It is almost as if the writers are trying to hit a quota of gross-out jokes for Howard. At a certain point, my anger morphed to pure disappointment. That’s how disheartening it is to see.

Selfishness

Okay, Howard Weinerman is selfish. I'll give you that. But just because he's self-centered does not make him a bad person. May I bring to mind Gumball Watterson, Marcy Wu, Louise Belcher? All are textbook examples of selfish characters, and frequently act in their own best interest, but are ultimately good people. I mention them as proof that characters can have negative defining traits without sacrificing the audience’s sympathy.

Here's where I really get frustrated with RC9GN’s writing... They want to portray Howard as a jerk with a heart of gold — such as in Debbie Meddle — but they always undercut his few selfless moments with a gross-out gag, or a rude offhand comment, usually directed at Randy. Sometimes, Randy will reciprocate, in which case I give it a pass. There, the grossness or general assholery showcases their friendship, instead of putting Howard down for a stale laugh.

But like I said, that’s the ‘sometimes.’ The ‘often’ is every time we see him almost embody the ‘heart of gold’ part of his attempted archetype, only to be thrown out the window for a lame gag. A specific example is in “Bro Money Bro Problems,” where Howard has cash to spare for once. He immediately opts to spend it on Randy!….until Randy shloomps into the nomicon, then comes out to find that Howard spent everything he had on the Food Hole’s dinner menu. Sure, this was used to set the rest of the episode in motion. They run out of money, but they need more, so they go out and sell ninja weapons. But here’s the thing: for the rest of the episode, Howard spends his money on both him and Randy, rather than just himself, effectively making that dinner menu joke inconsistent with his characterization.

“Well how else would they set the episode in motion?” They could spend it all on arcade games. Or they spend it all at the boardwalk both times. OR, they are just excitable teenagers who realize, hey, this shit is lucrative! Let’s go get rich! Boom. Fixed your episode, fixed your Howard, fixed your fatphobia.

Laziness

Over and over again, the show tries to tell us that Howard is a lazy piece of shit. Other characters regard him as such, and honestly, so does Howard himself. But I would argue that he is no lazier than your average teenager — not to mention, no lazier than Randy! The difference is that for Howard, the writers intertwine his laziness with his alleged stupidity. They try to convince the audience that Howard is too stupid to care what’s going on.

However, this trait is unique from the other three, because I think this one manages to give him depth. Or at least, in my heart of hearts, it has the potential to do so. This characteristic lends to Howard’s most clever jokes, I think, because ultimately:

Howard is capable, but apathetic.

From the earliest episodes, it is established that he aims for minimum effort, maximum benefit. There’s the bit where Randy asks Howard to come up with the plan for once, and they both laugh at the idea of Howard doing the heavy lifting. Or even all the way into “Mort-al Kombat,” he says people are ‘really handing him the answers today’ when Randy puts in the work to get Howard ungrounded.

But just because Howard prefers not to do any work, doesn’t mean he won’t! And when he does put in effort, the results show that he is damn good at what he does. His time as Le Beret more than proves this point: from his ability to work under the radar, to the plans he forms, to the knowledge he has about Mort’s job & McFist Industries that allows him to get all the cool equipment he uses. We also see his skills and capability in “Debbie Meddle” (the ninja dummy), “Viva El Nomicon” (learning Spanish quickly), “Secret Stache” (commitment to the bit), “The Ninja Identity/Supremacy,” and more.

He very much operates under the mindset of ‘work smarter, not harder.’ He’ll get the job done if he has to. He’ll excel at the job if it benefits him. This is a really interesting character mechanic that would have been so much fun to explore. Like I said so many times above, though, the writers most often choose to undercut his abilities in favor of comedic expense.

Conclusion

Howard, in comparison to Randy, is obviously a lot harder to root for. Overall, Randy is a more conventional character with conventional flaws. Like most duos in media, the sidekick juxtaposes the hero — I would even argue that Howard, in some ways, is Randy in reverse. Randy is highly moral, but still has a lot of learning to do skill-wise; Howard is already extremely capable, but also very amoral. Because of this, the narrative places Randy at a higher value than Howard — which, yknow, fair enough! He is the protag, and that’s a great setup for a protagonist. But simply by virtue of being fat, Howard is not treated with the same level of respect as other sidekick/best friend characters.

For all his quirks and flaws, Howard is not a supremely unique character. His basic core aligns with so many other characters. But because the writers lean on his fatness, instead of leaning into his potential and his complexities, it is much harder to root for him — and it strips him of originality. I love this show with all my heart, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t mind the way it treated Howard. He had so much potential, even as the show was airing, and I will forever be upset that the crew squandered it on fatphobic tropes.

#howard weinerman #rc9gn #randy cunningham 9th grade ninja #character analysis #rc9gn meta #also I HAAAATED howard for most of s1 it took me a long time to warm up to him #trust that I have really mulled this over #this isnt randy hate either btw. dont anyone go putting words in my mouth #UPDATE: dudes…..I’ve been working on this for over two months now #on and off #and I’m STILL not happy w it 😭😭#but I have GOT to post it so. PLS lmk ur thoughts ur comments ur questions….#I loooove ninja meta. teehee #ninj-originals

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rist-ix · 2 months ago

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I don't mean to rush you at all, but I was wondering what the status is for a new chapter of to know to want or even tbhtbh? I really love your writing, and it's been my Roman empire for the past 2 years lmao. Every post you make makes my day. Also, I don't remember if it was ever acknowledged in your fics, but what exactly is the nature of valtor and griffins relationship? I, for one, would love to see more of griffins reaction to sparkshipping lol. It would be comical. Thanks 😊

Oooooh Griffin is an all time favorite of mine, and I will NEVER forgive WinxClub for dropping this tidbit of her past with Valtor and then never expanding on it. And I actually have no consistent answer what the relationship between them could have looked like, it changes with the weather for me. I know popular canon is that they were a couple for a while, and I can definitely see that. I do think I would prefer it if they were genuinely just friends though, because Valtor is big on using other people's attraction to him to manipulate them, and him and Griffin being platonic would add a tragic layer of genuineness in my opinion. Make that eventual betrayal hit all the harder. Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have hooked up a couple times tho, just for the heck of it.

And you're not rushing at all, don’t worry! I know I've been dragging my feet for these last few chapters, and I can already tell it’s gonna stay that way for the next ones too in all likelihood, but I am still working on it.

Current prediction is that I’ll have it done around Christmas — unless Donald Trump gets elected president. In that case I will move into the woods and delete my ao3 account, leaving all my fics unfinished and tbhtbh forever trapped in this transitional state of angst and never tied-up loose ends. Also, I will make Sky x Bloom the final pairing. Also, I will kill off Darcy.

Go vote damnit

#this is what voter activism looks like #right? right?#fic: to be hunted to be haunted #sparxshipping #asks

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dlstmxkakwldrlarchive · 9 months ago

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240415 ONEW Fromm Chat 4PM Spam

im drenched in my own sweat

how to turn the live on?

please let me know

im seeing them live now

no im reading your message live

no need to relaunch the app lol

it's raining !

whoo

the air is getting cleansed?! that's good !

this day is like getting ventilation

Call Ventilation-ssi

Now / A blurry border — Look at me / At the end of the dizzy gaze / Meeting the real me (ONEW's Identity lines)

(He's probably practicing Identity rn)

is it because it's humid?

the practice room floor got really wet

you must have been waiting for 4PM

as expected

y/n

you're the best

so incredible

i'm so touched

i've been waiting for you everywhere

i'm so happy

actually i said this earlier

anyway, this is my official intro (here in fromm)

thank you so much for waiting

im really really grateful

let's do everything even if it takes time! anything !

we also have fan meetings and birthday party

i want to see you at the concert too!

im preparing for an album

right, earlier i talked about setting up a YouTube channel and im going to try that here !

griffin-ssi said he'll do a great job

I'll tell him. thank you

lol

I delivered your thanks

griffin-ssi wants to thank you too

y/n

jjingus are absolutely the best

trans

jinki then started talking about a possible dress code for his fan meet and he asked jjingus to wear a smile, it doesn't have to be that evident, he said that who's planning to go can also simply take a piece of paper and draw one! or just smile/laugh while being there without annoying others, of course lol ridiculous kid is also allowed

he also said he's planning to meet everyone, including overseas fans, if not now, in the future!

he asked for fruits and bagel recs (which ones to eat and where) and which type of ads should he do (someone recommended an underwear ad others a drink ad)

#240415 #shinee #onew #lee jinki #jinki #fromm chat #trans #mrfreakslab #hard era #long post

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herotome · 5 months ago

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absolutely EXPLODING over dart Sorry?????? sir sir sir pleaseeee obsessed with how his MASK is his whole face!!!!! likeuh yes yes yesplease sir sir h helmet helmet !!!!!! BABY BOYYYYYYWAHHHHHH

ANYWAYS. coherency semi restored. how would he feel about an mc who’s like “nono it’s fine keep it on!!” before dinner when griffin tells him to turn his MASK off? would he leave the cool glitchy face obscuring hologram on? (for me? as a treat? for my soul?)

(…can he even eat with that on?)

LOL this brand of gushing in very specific ways... me gusta, anon, me gusta. I'll keep these as a set and save the last message for another day.

> an mc who’s like “nono it’s fine keep it on!!”

You know what? ......why didn't I think of that. :| That's a really good dialogue choice.. might put it into the game... but here's the answer in case I don't:

Dart would be surprised! Is the new hire... trying to accommodate him? He definitely feels a twinge of something but he's not ready to put a name to it yet - so he glances away and reminds himself that Griffin had told him to keep it off, and for right now, Griffin has more authority than the new hire and he cares more about what Griffin wants. Dart leaves the MASK off and settles on saying a simple, "... I appreciate that." He files this moment away for later, when he decides it's time to reassess his opinion of the new hire.

He can eat with it on btw LOL it's a hologram, I imagine the way it works is sort of like a waterfall... so you'd be able to see his chin under the food.

#ro: dart #herotome highlights #herotome ask #its been so long since Ive drawn him omg

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alyshiba · 9 months ago

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Recently I read a post were a user on Reddit was talking about this tale, and now it reflected the three sorrengail siblings, and I couldn't help but disagreeing with this.

There is a bunch of reasons why I think that theory is wrong, the main one being that the only actual similarity between the two sets of sibling is Violet and "the brother who made the skies surrender its power”. None of the other bonded a griffin, and as far as we know none of them is venin.

So, what we know about this story is this:

one brother bonded a dragon, one brother a griffin, and when the last one grew jealous he started drawing directly from the source.

I think we should consider this story exactly like that, a story, a fable and not take it too literallly.

Stop thinking for a second about this brothers has people, and consider them as figure of speech (maybe to pass down more erasily even to children the story of the continent)

So what if the three brothers were the nations that make up the continent? Because if you look at the story from this perspective, then you do have three "brother" who have the same characteristic as the ones in the story:

Navarre is the brother who bonded dragons;

Poromiel is the brother who bonded griffins;

The Barrens is the brother who got jealous and turned venin;

And I promise that if you look at the hints scattered inside the books you'll see that:

1. Dragons are endemic to the territories that make up Navarre. Even the original hatching grounds are located inside what is now Navarre (suspiciously close to the border of the wards.. that's another theory though);

2. Griffins are endemic to Poromiel, their "hatching grounds" (not sure we can use the same terminology) is in the area where Cliffsbane academy is/was (we learn that when the griffin riders share their process of entering the college);

3. The Barrens have no mythical / magical creatures that we know off.

If you think about it, at one point in history Poromielians (how are they called lol ??) and Navarrians bonded mythical / magical creatures that gave them magic, on top of any military or economical advantages they might had. It is understandable how the people of the Barrens might have felt threatened and searched for alternatives to the newfound magic of their neighbors.

We then know that the Venins originated from the Barrens, so that's the solution they found.

The story also tells us that:

The younger brother made the skies surrender its greatest power and thus vanquished his jealous brother at a great and terrible price.

Which again parallels the fact that Navarre unified, and was created as a nation, only after the war against the Venins 650 yars ago, therefore it makes sense to be reffered as the younger brother.

We then circle around and go back to Violet: since, if we follow this theory, it was a dragon rider who made the skies surrender its power and defeated its jelous sibling at a grat and terrible price.

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elvhenmage · 1 month ago

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everything i have to say abt davrin lacks the extra nuance that i assume one gets from his romance scenes, but i still find him fascinating – that drive for Purpose that made him join the gray wardens, and yet, the pursuit of that Purpose often framing him in… sort of insignificant ways? ways that de-center him?

finding and caring for the griffins is important, but his way of speaking about it tends to position him as just The Guy Who This Task Falls To – the bodyguard, not as important as the actual trainers who died. (which shifts a bit over time, but initially……)

and like, being the one to slay the archdemon and die in the process is in no way insignificant, but it's not JUST that – he considers ALL the wardens that died in weisshaupt heroes, and thus, there’s that sense that he failed by not fighting till the bitter end like they did. even if he didn't die to the archdemon, and just fell to the army of darkspawn, he would have Fulfilled That Purpose still.

and he DOES take pride in a lot of the things he’s been able to do since joining the gray wardens, but even then, those sort of heroics seem to often be framed as A Gray Warden Thing (sweeping thru a town beset by darkspawn and saving the townsfolk) rather than… something that he, As Davrin, has done.

(wish i remembered more of the phrasing he uses when talking abt his monster carvings – done for a very noble purpose, and is more obviously something that he can do because of HIS specific experiences with monsters and HIS skills with woodcarving/whittling, but even so, i think what he says still decenteres him from the act a bit)

SO. that sense of loss and failure he has to grapple with… the guilt that comes with LIVING………. thinking you’ve found Your Purpose and then having to grapple with not fulfilling that and eventually finding A New Purpose………. and then facing the possibility of dying nobly anyway OR watching a friend carry out that last noble sacrifice in your place???? much and more could – and likely has – been said about him by those more eloquent that me but even so. even so…

this got so long LOL i'll put it under a readmore. also i hope i managed to stay at least sort of on topic, i kinda got carried away 😭

well as far as i've been able to tell, outside of locking in the romance during the feeding the halla quest, you only get the one extra scene near the end if he's been romanced, so 🤡 but i've only played his romance so far so idk what exactly is exclusive and what isn't. i won't get started on all That though bc i have a whole other set of complaints about his romance

but he absolutely is de-centered in a lot of his own story, which is a huge shame because at the beginning it seemed like it was setting up to BE something. one of the first real convos you have with him at the lighthouse is about how he feels about suddenly being a caretaker and not just a bodyguard. his role has completely shifted from "stand guard while someone else parents the griffons" to "i'm the one who has to make sure assan is properly cared for." and then he applies that logic to assan and the griffons: "these animals live to fight - but i wonder if there's another path for them?" at which point you can say yeah, everyone can find a new path. but then they don't deliver on that For Him specifically, it's just always about the griffons

like it just feels like it wasn't tied together properly. because there is so much to examine wrt how he feels/acts after weisshaupt and how he's had his main purpose in life ripped away from him. and i think you're right in that it is often framed as A Grey Warden Thing but i also think that could've been, like... part of his issue, yk? because he says in one of his journals that basically he felt like he had to prove himself to his clan when he left and he acknowledges that he was being bullheaded and has since chosen to stay distant. so i think him not allowing himself to be The Hero so to speak could be attributed to him trying to make being a warden MEAN something. if that makes sense. it's just that there's no satisfying follow up to any of it because the writing cares primarily for assan/the griffons

he just has so much potential. obvs we've had warden stories before and it's nothing new that a lot of them feel like they have one singular purpose in life, but this is the only one where he tries to fulfill that purpose and fails. the HOF didn't fail because they knew they weren't going to die if they did the dark ritual. but davrin fully expects to die! and there's no weight to it! they bring up the fact that wardens die killing archdemons as party banter for christ's sake - i sat through the first part of weisshaupt going "so is anyone gonna talk about this, or ???" only for him to have like two lines about it that you as the player can't even choose how to respond to iirc. and then he finds a new purpose after weisshaupt where he wants to live because he sees a future for the first time, and that can still be taken away from him. but all anybody ever wants to talk about is oh poor assan!! if davrin dies so does he so i guess i'll save davrin so the poor little baby griffon doesn't die too! and it's like HELLO?? what are you people even talking about. there is so much potential in davrin and his life and thoughts and feelings and how he could be swayed more towards the wardens or the dalish in the exact same way the griffons are but he's consistently ignored by both the narrative and fans.

and actually i will circle back to the romance point in the first paragraph - i don't know if it's romance-specific but during the final check in at the lighthouse after the point of no return, you get this very brief convo:

DAVRIN: wonder what my old dalish clan would think if they could see me now. ROOK: no reason you can't visit them after this is over. DAVRIN: yeah. i could. DAVRIN: (chuckles) and i'd definitely bring assan.

and it's just, like. MADDENING to me. to me, it feels like there's no real moment where you get to further press on the "everyone can find a new path" dialogue and his "was i born a monster hunter, destined to do this job, or did i have a choice?" journal entry to actually dig into how he feels about what he feels like he should be doing. you can't help him through the internal struggle of his warden duties vs his dalish identity even though it is a DIRECT PARALLEL to what do to with the griffons. like i guess the subtext is that whatever you choose with the griffons is also you choosing what his future will be like but they don't SHOW that. his final line isn't even about him!! it's only about the griffons!!

i dunno man. i feel like an insane person sometimes because i don't know if maybe i'm missing something or misunderstanding or not remembering or whatever. it just doesn't feel like he got the respect the rest of the companions did with their personal quests and it sucks because you can see the glimmers of potential in his storyline and how perfectly he parallels the fate of the griffons. they just didn't spotlight him enough for it to feel like his issues were resolved imo. which is exactly what so many people were afraid of as promo material was coming out, and now here we are, having to deal with people saying the final choice is "harding vs assan" and ignoring davrin completely.

but anyway!!! that's all i have time for because my lunch break is over and my boss is already on my case. thanks for the ask and for letting me ramble though <3

#da #dav spoilers #cannibalisticskittles #asks #davrin

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piracytheorist · 7 months ago

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Anime seconds per Manga pages

I was curious about the distribution of anime minutes dedicated for each chapter of the Spy x Family manga, and because it was much easier than counting the separate screen time each character has, I decided to just make a new count project, lol.

So here we have for each manga chapter, how many pages it has and how many minutes its respective anime episode dedicated in the adaptation. I'm including each chapter in the order in which it was shown in the anime, aside from the introductory three pages that were shown in the beginning of episode 3.

My rules for counting the screen time for each chapter:

Episode title cards do not count when they're separate from the action, when they're just a black screen, or a separate title screen (like the Dodgeball and Arts and Crafts/Griffin episodes). Only exception is for chapter 42, since the manga chapter has the same title card.

The end credits from the first episode where no main characters are visible don't count.

Episode recaps by a narrator don't count (the recap in episode 7 which is told by Twilight counts).

Repeated scenes from the end of an episode to the next (like episodes 8 to 9 or episodes 13 to 14) count.

In blue are the number of pages, while the light red are the minutes dedicated to the specific chapter.

Naturally, in the first half of season 1, episodes 3 and 6 have the smallest differences, since they have a lot of additional scenes that weren't in the manga. Taking the total seconds of each section and dividing them by the page numbers, we get this graph:

Which practically shows how many seconds per chapter page the episode dedicated. Not in a practical sense, but it gives a perspective, an average.

So we see that Chapter 6 (Castle Rescue Mission) has the highest rate, considering how many added scenes the episode had; showing the Forgers walk to the school, Anya having a "ritual dance", and of course, the whole expanded Loidman section. Quite far back is Chapter 3 (the Forgers going on their first outing together) which also has additional scenes; Yor arriving at the Forger house and being given a tour by Anya, Anya painting at the museum kids place, the family visiting the tailor shop, and going for a family photo. All that is still not enough to surpass the Loidman Spectacular, lol! Right behind it is Short Mission 4 (Henderson taking a jog) which while not exactly expanded, it had a lot of focus on each part. Right behind it is Chapter 15 (Dodgeball game) which also had a lot of additional scenes in the anime.

The rest of the chapters are pretty balanced in how much anime time they're given, though interestingly Chapter 13 (Twiyor failing to kiss and Yor sending Yuri flying across the room) is very tightly adapted, getting pretty much the same treatment as the very first chapter, which I personally find very perfectly balanced in how tightly it's adapted.

I also included the prologue, since it's given its own part, though you can see how quickly it goes by each image (it may be three pages long but it's only four images, lol)

On to the next cour!

Aside from a few short missions and the "omelet rice" extra part, the page numbers and minutes dedicated are pretty balanced. Here is the chart for second/page:

Aaaaaaand "Omelet Rice" has an absolute sweep! It's only a page long in the manga, but it takes an entire minute and a half of screen time, showing Yor's foods in (pixelated) detail, as well as poor Yuri's reactions to them, and actually shows him telling her she'll be a catch and Yor slapping him to another dimension in embarrassment, as well as a slightly prolonged scene of Yuri's captain telling him to be careful. It's actually so funny how much screen time that little page got, lol. It's the only part that surpasses a minute dedicated per page in the entire anime so far.

Next up is Short Mission 2 (Franky practicing dates with Twilight to woo Monica) which I actually hadn't noticed that it got that much detail. It doesn't even have any additional scenes, it just adapts each scene with a lot of detail.

The rest is pretty balanced, with Short Mission 3 (Bond ripping the penguin plushie) being the one that's the most tightly adapted.

Season 2!

The cruise arc was quite tightly adapted!

Chapters 44 to 56 are the Cruise Arc, and we can see those chapters have the lowest numbers in the season, each and every one getting fewer than 30 seconds per page, with Chapters 51 and 52 (beginning and action of the assassin fight on the top deck) being the most dense in screen time. Despite that, I don't think it was rushed at all! I think they managed a great balance showing all the action in it. Chapter 40 (Bond helping Twilight get the truth serum) also is quite tightly adapted. I think that shows in how it shows some of Bond's city adventures as still images; if they had more time for this part, they might have animated those too.

Chapters 57 (Anya lying to her classmates about the cruise) and Chapter 58 (Bond and Loid fire rescue) have an asterisk because I wasn't exactly sure how much time to count. For Chapter 57, I didn't count the scenes of Yor giving her coworkers their gifts, the flashback of the family buying them, Yuri telling his captain how excited he is to see Yor again, and Loid putting on the lovey-dovey bedsheets. I only started counting from the moment the scene changes to the school, since technically the scenes mentioned above are bonus scenes that are not connected to the chapter (aside from Yuri saying he can't wait to see Yor again, but still, it feels like a stretch). They're closer to the bonus parts of like, Yor bringing Anya her gym clothes, than an extended or expanded scene...

Like in the last episode of Season 2, where Loid announcing to the family he'll take Bond for a walk and Anya making origami stars are additional scenes, but they are intertwined with the chapter. I feel like it's a different case here... in any case, it doesn't make a huge difference, lol. The post-credits scene that shows each character separately was not counted for that.

And here are all the so-far adapted chapters, though since I couldn't make Excel change the order (and it would take too long to copy-paste each set on my own), it starts from the bottom going up.

It's literally so funny how Omelet Rice is towering over everything else, lmao. This makes it obvious that the most expanded chapter so far has been Chapter 6, and the tightest one is chapter 52, aside from the prologue.

(I forgot to change the order of chapters 58 and 59, oops. Oh well XD)

Big thanks to @yumeka-sxf for their Story Guide, which was a huge help in putting all of that info together!

#Spy x Family #sxf screentime #kinda #my eyes hurt now lol

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phdinbarbievlogverse · 1 month ago

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MY HONEST REVIEW ON BARBIE MYSTERIES: THE GREAT HORSE CHASE 💖💜💙

Let me start with the new VAs…

MALIBU (voiced by Abby Trott) - 8/10 🥰

Her voice kinda reminds of Ericka Linbeck’s who voiced Barbie in Starlight Adventure, Spy Squad, and Dolphin Magic. Mellow but steady, but bubbly and energetic when need be.

BROOKLYN (voiced by Diamond White) - 4/10 🙃

No hate to the VA, I’m just not used to hearing Brooklyn sounding so sweet and cute 🤣. I prefer Tatianna Varia’s performance because her voice is just dripping with sass and confidence which I thought fit Brooklyn’s overall image and personality better.

KEN (voiced by Griffin Burns) - 8.5/10

Adorable. Just adorable. The voice fits the animation. And he is still my precious darling boy who can do no wrong in my eyes. 💙

The 8 episode story was good. Not great imo but good nonetheless. It can better if they expand outside magic, horses, puppies, or mermaids, (i feel like they recycle those four quite often haha). I’m already invested in this “Barbie Mysteries” theme, I just really want them to incorporate new material and not recycle used stuff. Passport to Adventure being a podcast was a such nice touch. I liked how they made it like that so the series is open to other possibilities and themes.

Marcus was an okay addition for me. Another comic relief character. He gives off hungry/sleepy boy vibes. Didn’t do much to make an impact to me as viewer but I’m glad they’re able to give Ken a friend who is a dude this time. It’s nice to see him with a pal 😄

Renee being there for laughs was also fine. But I’m kinda meh about her and Cassidy, didn’t really sense any chemistry. And it’s not like Cassidy will be around if the show has more seasons so what was the point.

Now for the important part… 🥁

As you all know, I love #Karbie with my whole heart. And I take their scenes, no matter how long or short, very seriously. That being said, after watching this series, it tells me that this is just another series/universe where Barbie and Ken are friends. But I like how they are comfortable with each other that they don’t shy away after hugging tightly or even if they are in close proximity.

I’d like to think they’re building something with Malibu and Ken, as well as Brooklyn and Marcus because a few scenes had romantic undertones but that is still unclear to me as of now since there wasn’t that much focus. I think I see something for Brooklyn and Marcus, mainly because that one scene they got shy with each other and almost blushing, implying they might be crushing on each other. Even Morgan got jealous meaning she sensed something developed between the two.

What I would like to point out is that right from the beginning with the trailer and music videos, when we already saw snippets of the show… THE WAY Malibu and Brooklyn were constantly holding onto each other and closely working together was soooo sus 👀 it raised my eyebrows sky high!!!

LOL the only thing in my mind when I watched those scenes were: “Is this fanservice?” “Are the animators Brooklyn x Malibu shippers?” 😆

That scene where they almost fell off a cliff and then after Cassidy saved them, the hug they did got me like 😳 🤨 literally… like what kind of friends hug like that ??? 😝

Whatever they plan on doing, they better flesh it out first. I don’t want anything rushed. There has to be a build up towards it to become more satisfying if it does come true.

In summary, this was a pretty good series. Much better than I anticipated. I think it shows promise. I really missed watching a new Barbie show so I’m very happy this wasn’t disappointing. Overall, I’d give this show a 7/10.

#barbie #mattel #mattel entertainment #barbie mysteries the great horse chase #barbie roberts #barbie brooklyn roberts #ken carson #karbie

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