⚔️

› DEATH, BUT NOT FOR YOU.

[gryffn]

GRYFFN, an independent witcher oc, lazare of kovir, of the witcher world. mixed game and book influence, draws inspiration from various fantasy sources. mutuals only.

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carrd. prompts.

[gryffn]

meant to maybe be around, got tipsy instead + am nursing day three of a headache .we'll see how i feel tomorrow after work. i hope everyone had a good day today!

[promptshelf]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇.

› prompts from rachel gillig's novel the knight and the moth (2025). feel free to tweak as you see fit , bartholomew.

❛ you don’t have to be good, or useful, for someone to care about you. ❜

❛ when you do the right thing for the wrong reason, no one praises you. ❜

❛ we all want to be special.”

❛ what is right and wrong depends entirely on the story you’re living in. ❜

❛ which is more intricate? the designs of men, trying to reach gods, or that of gods, trying to reach men? ❜

❛ people who love you for your usefulness don't love you at all. ❜

❛ you want to throw me down. ❜

❛ i, prideful, disdainful, godless. ❜

❛ i want to drag you into the dirt with me. ❜

❛ you know this story, (name,) though you do not remember it. ❜

❛ to tell a story is in part to tell a lie, isn't it? ❜

❛ it's hard to see who i am when i am lost in what's expected of me. ❜

❛ fear not, (name!) every day has its dog. ❜

❛ if you only ever look up at something, can you ever see it clearly? ❜

❛ it is easier, swearing ourselves to someone else's cause than to sit with who we are without one. ❜

❛ take my hand, you strange little creature. ❜

❛ it sounds awful when i say it out loud. ❜

❛ you are more special than you realize. ❜

❛ i would do anything for you. ❜

❛ i cannot decide which i like best. the sunrise, or the sunset. ❜

❛ i was losing my faith in everything. ❜

❛ the two of us meeting… it felt almost divine. ❜

❛ i think her quite the bitch. ❜

❛ how undignified. ❜

❛ did anyone see me fall? ❜

❛ i want someone to see me. ❜

❛ i want it to be you. ❜

❛ no honor among thieves, and even less among gods. ❜

❛ i’ll do anything you ask of me. ❜

❛ if i were beside myself, there would be two of me ❜

❛ oh, (name.) he's dreamy. ❜

❛ do you want to know how it ends? ❜

❛ does it end? ❜

❛ it ends when you kiss me. ❜

❛ why do we do these things to ourselves? ❜

❛ you’re an incomparable fiend, (name.) a truly accomplished asshole. ❜

❛ i’d like you better if you were on your back again. ❜

❛ it is not like me to be the bearer of bad tidings. ❜

❛ am i all that you imagined? ❜

❛ your hands are marked by the blood of my metamorphosis. ❜

❛ whatever my soul was made of was frail. ❜

❛ violence is a craft. so is compassion. ❜

❛ no is a sufficient answer. ❜

❛ anger is a fine weapon. ❜

❛ now have some soup. ❜

❛ i will shoulder any weight you give me. ❜

❛ would that things were different. ❜

❛ i think i would like to stop promising myself away, or else there will be nothing left of me to give. ❜

❛ i don’t know why i say the things i do. ❜

[gryffn]

some bullet points about lazare and his father, some that have been shared before and others that haven't.

lazare was his father's child of destiny, promised to him through the law of surprise.

lazare's father collected him when he had just turned six years old. lazare does not remember any of his childhood with his biological donor due to the trauma of it - he was a cruel man, twisted by the loss of his wife due to complications from lazare's premature birth and the fact lazare effectively was no longer his the moment he entered the world.

lazare's father renamed him lazare on the journey to kaer seren. lazare, of course, doesn't remember his birth name either.

lazare's father had a huge hand in raising him and kept him close, as one might a true blood-related son. he spent more time in the keep during lazare's childhood and training than he did on the path.

lazare believed his father had been killed on the attack on kaer seren, having found what he thought was his father's body. it wasn't. it was a duplicate. his father had in truth been taken away in the hopes knowledge from kaer seren's legendary library could be obtained from him.

lazare's father was told he (lazare) was dead, having perished in the attack. eventully, lazare's father broke free from his captivity and wandered the world before hearing words/tales of a witcher very much matching lazare's description.

lazare's father went on a very witcher odyssey-like journey to find his son, eventually reconnecting with lazare. lazare had a hard time believing he was truly his father at first.

lazare's father does not return to the path full-time, entering into a partial retirement. lazare offers free use of the house/property gifted to him as reward for a job to his father, which becomes more-or-less a jointly held asset between them. they have a long future together again ahead of them, to make up for all the time missed in the wake of the kaer seren tragedy.

lazare loves his dad and his dad loves him very much :) they have a remarkable relationship/connection, all things considered.

(i'm thinking a comparable fc for his dad could be toshiro mifune? not settled on that, pondering still)

idk maybe i will add more thoughts/bullet points here, have these for now.

[gryffn]

I AM THE SWORD.

GRYFFN, an independent original character—lazare of kovir—set within the world of the witcher. looked after by r. carrd.

[petaltexturedskies]

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

[gryffn]

have more excellent boy imagery

[gryffn]

have and enjoy this video of a stray boy we’re slowly integrating into our household.

[gryffn]

@gaindragon: “ this is how you let people speak to you? ”

lazare has seen time and again that privilege makes men blind to the realities of lives that are not their own. for those born to higher families, those lives oft mean little enough to not be worth considering at all. the difficulties of the life of a witcher surely are not.

"what would you have me do? strike out? make a further target of myself? inspire greater the ire of every guard, armed force, and villager with pitchfork and torch?" the witcher's expression is set into the appearance of hard indifference, his cat's gaze set resolutely on his hands as he tugs at the fingers of his gloves, pulls each off in turn, and tucks them away. he cannot hope for aemond to understand in any meaningful way. explaining anything at all then, perhaps, may be a waste of time.

he tries nonetheless.

"i have heard worse. i will hear worse. reaction and retaliation is dealt when deemed deserved. such is a witcher's fucking lot - our guild shall know naught else but hatred, fear and prejudice forevermore. should i act against all who speak disparagingly, i would make an enemy of the world and fast friends with the end of a rope." lazare pauses. here, finally, does he look at aemond. "when 'how you let people speak to you' is the prevailing reception, you learn early how to adapt."

[gryffn]

@anmehil, ren: ❝ there’s no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it. ❞

the night sky is brilliant. lazare stares up at its magnificence and traces the shapes of the constellations as he listens to ren. he had not wanted to join the elf, drawn from the privacy and isolation of his borrowed dwelling and into the woods beyond the village, but he had reluctantly and querulously come nonetheless. he had spent three days in his withdrawal, which it seems had been deemed long enough.

ren had fetched him in the middle of the night, though lazare had already been awake.

"fear is a tool." the witcher responds without looking at ren. he suspects ren may want more out of him than few-word responses and stubborn stargazing—thus far, lazare had yet to even contribute to tending the small fire ren had started for them beyond lighting the flame with igni—but he is, thus far, unlikely to get it. lazare's poor mood persists. ren is merely an undeserving recipient of it. "pray tell, what is your point?"

[edenmemes]

asoiaf: clash of kings starters

❝ people often claim to hunger for truth,   but seldom like the taste when it’s served up. ❞ ❝ the brightest flame casts the darkest shadow. ❞ ❝ lawless men are everywhere in this dark time. men with cold steel and colder hearts. ❞ ❝ there’s no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it. ❞ ❝ he who hurries through life hurries to his grave. ❞ ❝ if half an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. a man is good or he is evil. ❞ ❝ some men are like swords, made for fighting. hang them up and they go to rust. ❞ ❝ sometimes i feel as though you are the best friend i have and sometimes i feel you are my worst enemy. ❞ ❝ i want to weep. i want to be comforted. i’m so tired of being strong. ❞ ❝ crowns do strange things to the heads beneath them. ❞ ❝ i see a deep sadness written upon your face. could it be the sadness of a lost dream? ❞ ❝ this is not you, not your way. you were always just, always hard yet never cruel. ❞ ❝ if you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look him in the face and hear his last words. ❞ ❝ how i have yearned for the sound of your sweet voice. ❞ ❝ i do not like being lied to. leave me out of your next deception. ❞ ❝ i will hurt you for this. i don’t know how yet, but give me time. a day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you’ll know the debt is paid. ❞ ❝ there are no men like me. there’s only me. ❞ ❝ i will not claim to bear you any great love, no, but i cannot hate you either. ❞ ❝ the only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy. ❞ ❝ there is a sweet innocence about you. ❞ ❝ mercy. that’s a bloody trap. too much and they call you weak, too little and you’re monstrous. ❞ ❝ it is better to be seen as cruel than foolish. ❞ ❝ i’ve waited for you, oh, so many times. now you must wait for me. ❞ ❝ no one has ever died of restlessness, but rashness is another matter. ❞ ❝ i’m not a child, to be soothed with empty promises. ❞ ❝ only blood can wash out blood. ❞ ❝ don’t ever touch me, or i’ll kill you. ❞ ❝ we have leagues to go, and dangers to face. you will need your strength. ❞ ❝ i cannot sleep at night for thinking of your beauty. ❞ ❝ so many vows…they make you swear and swear. defend the king. obey the king. keep his secrets. do his bidding. your life for his. but obey your father. love your sister. protect the innocent. defend the weak. obey the laws. it’s too much. no matter what you do, you’re forsaking one vow or the other. ❞ ❝ somehow i have a feeling i am not going to like what you’re about to say. ❞ ❝ kings have no friends. only subjects and enemies. ❞ ❝ you must be still, you are grievously hurt. you will do yourself great injury. ❞ ❝ your heart is noble, but learn a lesson here. we cannot set the world to rights. ❞ ❝ i mean to be a king, and not of a broken kingdom. ❞ ❝ when i make threats, you’ll know it. ❞ ❝ do you want me dead? is that it? the truth now. ❞ ❝ this time i have to find my own way, and it is hard. so hard. ❞ ❝ i am afraid, but i must be brave. ❞ ❝ it grieves me that it must come to this. ❞ ❝ the kingdom bleeds, and no one lifts a sword to defend it. ❞ ❝ we shall see who is laughing when all of this is done. ❞ ❝ the unseen enemy is always the most fearsome. ❞ ❝ would you like one? you’ve never tasted anything so sweet, i promise you.❞ ❝ i knew a man once who told me i smiled at the wrong things. ❞ ❝ i would be glad to leave this city, if truth be told. ❞ ❝ there is an empty place within me where my heart was once. ❞ ❝ men like that…too honest to live, too noble to shit. ❞ ❝ if truth be told, i’ve never liked you. ❞ ❝ song and laughter have become suspicious strangers to me. ❞ ❝ only a fool humbles himself when the world is so full of men eager to do that job for him. ❞ ❝ the storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and i keep on paddling. ❞ ❝ mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, stars fall from the sky, and great cities sink beneath the sea. even gods die, we think. everything changes. ❞ ❝ i will not be mocked to my face, do you hear me? i will not! ❞ ❝ most sellswords would betray anyone for enough gold. ❞ ❝ tell me that none of this troubles you…and i’ll name you a liar. ❞ ❝ was there ever a war where only one side bled? ❞ ❝ great wrongs have been done you, but the past is dust. the future may yet be won. ❞ ❝ i am growing strangely fond of you.   i may kill you yet, but i think i’d feel sad about it. ❞ ❝ ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow. ❞ ❝ courage and folly are cousins, or so i’ve heard. ❞ ❝ a curious way of fighting. it looks suspiciously like hiding. ❞ ❝ whatever enemy waits out here will not find us so easy to deal with. ❞ ❝ love is poison. a sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same. ❞ ❝ schemes are like fruit, they require a certain ripening. ❞ ❝ i can smell the fear on you. ❞ ❝ when the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. ❞ ❝ no royal is ever late. those who arrive before them have come early, that’s all. ❞ ❝ power resides where men believe it resides. no more and no less. ❞ ❝ you would not force me to reveal all my little secrets, would you? ❞ ❝ sorcery is the sauce fools spoon over failure to hide the flavor of their own incompetence. ❞ ❝ there are ghosts everywhere. we carry them with us wherever we go. ❞ ❝ you stop feeling, you stop thinking, you stop being you, there is only the fight, the foe, this man and then the next and the next and the next. ❞ ❝ terrible times breed terrible things. ❞ ❝ i do not beg. of anyone. mind you remember that. ❞ ❝ betray me, and you’ll wish you hadn’t. ❞ ❝ i do not require your understanding. only your service. ❞ ❝ would that bones could talk. this fellow could tell us much. how he died. ❞ ❝ the wide world is full of people wanting help. would that some could find the courage to help themselves. ❞ ❝ a frightened man is a beaten man. ❞ ❝ the ones who look the most suspicious are likely innocent. it’s the ones who look innocent i need to beware. ❞ ❝ it is peaceful here, but for how long? ❞ ❝ the man who kills his own blood is cursed forever in the sights of gods and men. ❞ ❝ a sweet dream. now put it aside, i beg you. it can never be. ❞ ❝ you’re as bad an omen as any raven. ❞ ❝ this is no game, so don’t play the child with me. ❞ ❝ my life is a poor thing, but it is yours. ❞ ❝ they will not love me, you say? when have they ever loved me? how can i lose something i have never owned? ❞ ❝ they’re all afraid of me. no one will hurt you again, or i’d kill them. ❞ ❝ i had begun to fear for you. did you meet with trouble? ❞ ❝ i grow ever more admiring of you. ❞ ❝ i’d sooner hold a wine goblet than a battle-axe. ❞ ❝ a lord never lets sentiment get in the way of ambition. ❞ ❝ if you have something to say, say it. ❞ ❝ how can i do my duty if i do not know where it lies?❞ ❝ don’t look at me, not…not like this…not you. ❞ ❝ i’ve broken laws, but i’ve never felt evil until tonight. ❞ ❝ are you here to serve me? or to vex me with arguments? ❞ ❝ men do not love me. they follow me because they fear me. ❞ ❝ why would people run off and leave their homes and everything? what could scare them so much? ❞ ❝ fear cuts deeper than swords. ❞ ❝ let us not get into the habit of names. names are dangerous. ❞ ❝ i do not relish being played for a fool. ❞ ❝ you have said nothing that requires forgiveness. ❞ ❝ perhaps you are wiser than i knew. ❞ ❝ a good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. each should have its own reward. ❞ ❝ you set us a battle we cannot hope to win. ❞ ❝ learn to use your ears more and your mouth less. ❞ ❝ sleep a bit. when you wake, all this will seem a bad dream. ❞ ❝ why should men fight and die for you? ❞ ❝ fuck your questions. you’ll choke on them before you get any answers from me. ❞ ❝ i am certain of nothing in this fickle and treacherous world. ❞ ❝ a good lord comforts and protects the weak and helpless. ❞ ❝ is a secret still a secret if everyone knows it? ❞ ❝ look around you. they’re all liars here…and every one better than you. ❞ ❝ i have a role to play, and you must do the same. ❞ ❝ sadly, no victory is without cost. ❞ ❝ this is evil, unthinkable…please, listen to me. ❞ ❝ is that what troubles you, that some fool call you cowardly? ❞ ❝ you must forgive me if i have spoken to you harshly in the past. ❞ ❝ a sweet offer…yet sweets can be poisoned. ❞ ❝ how beautiful you look tonight. ❞ ❝ the day is won, and yet you do not smile. the living should smile, for the dead cannot. ❞ ❝ the time for talk is done. now we see who is stronger. ❞ ❝ i am no stranger to nightmares. ❞ ❝ so much villainy; it sings a sad song for our age. did honour die with our fathers? ❞ ❝ some men are born to be killed. ❞ ❝ come if you like, but if you can’t keep up, don’t think that i’ll nurse you along. ❞ ❝ i will kill him. i swear it. i swear it. ❞ ❝ this is madness, but sooner madness than defeat. defeat is death and shame. ❞ ❝ does it give you joy to scare people? ❞ ❝ when i require your counsel i shall ask for it. ❞ ❝ will you put away your blade? ❞ ❝ need an escort? the talk is, the streets are dangerous. ❞ ❝ it is ill to keep a lady waiting. ❞ ❝ kneeling won’t save you now. stand up. ❞ ❝ you’re very pleased with yourself, aren’t you? why? ❞ ❝ do you think i wish to be here? ❞ ❝ don’t you know how i have cared for you, lived for you, loved you despite all? ❞ ❝ see, there is nothing to fear. ❞ ❝ you have a cheerful way of grieving. ❞ ❝ a dream, that’s all it was. it meant nothing. ❞ ❝ a dog doesn’t need courage to chase off rats. ❞ ❝ the gods give with one hand and take with the other. ❞ ❝ only a man like you would be proud of such an act. ❞ ❝ i cannot answer for the gods. ❞ ❝ it’s swords i need, not blessings. ❞ ❝ you look very lovely today. ❞ ❝ they said you were dead. ❞ ❝ all sorts of people are calling themselves kings these days. ❞ ❝ you need me, whether you care to admit it or no. ❞ ❝ be quiet and kiss me. ❞

[gryffn]

"false life." to be a witcher is to live on borrowed time. does it really matter where the time was borrowed from?

[gryffn]

this isn’t relevant to anything but i thought some of yall might appreciate these pictures i took this morning while i was getting ready for work 😌

[latinamamii69]

built my walls so well so no one can get in but now i can’t get out either

[gryffn]

@anmehil, ren: "I don't care what you do, but please don't give up the chance to be happy."

there rises in lazare a caustic surge, and the witcher must stifle it before he is able to turn towards ren with his face formed into a cool mien. while not entirely a genuine expression—it's crafted, intentionally set—it serves him, lazare thinks, as some kind of armor nonetheless.

these arguments of theirs are as unpleasant as they are wearisome and he is always left to wonder if the next might be the last. at what point will ren wash his hands of him, disappointed and disgusted in the difficult witcher he has chosen to be beguiled by? there are more worthy options here, surely. the undercurrent of concern in ren’s tone is lost on him.

"if you do not care, why have thoughts on it at all? why should this matter to you?" he bites out, each word as heavy as a stone. he stays rooted to his place. though the distance between them is only a few scant feet, it feels as if it were a canyon.

[crownmemes]

Concerned Sentences, Vol. 14

(Concerned sentences from various sources. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"This is exactly the sort of thing that got you into trouble in the first place!"

"This is how you let people speak to you?"

"If you let that kind of poison sit on your mind, you'll die from it."

"I don't want you doing this - for your own sake!"

"You're not allowing yourself to feel things that you should be feeling."

"Don't you want to be saved?"

"You do know that if you keep doing this job the way you've started, you're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble?"

"What's the matter? Are you sick?"

"You will always be angry no matter what, but you have a choice: you can either let it destroy you, or you can put it to work."

"I don't care what you do, but please don't give up the chance to be happy."

"Taking the piss out of it isn't going to make it go away, you know!"

"You've been looking behind you. Try looking ahead."

"You've spent so long wallowing in the past, wishing time would go backwards, but that is not how reality works."

"You can't see yourself. Everybody else can see it, but you can't."

"I can't physically stop you, but I'm not letting you out of my sight!"

"How come you were wandering around out there in the middle of nowhere?"

"For me to help you, you're going to have to talk to me at some point."

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? Are you happy?"

"I've never understood your ability to be alone."

"Where did you get the money for all this?"

"Well, don't worry about it now! You're all doped up!"

"I care about you. I want to make sure you're making the right decisions."

"I know denial when it walks my way. I used to be an expert practitioner."

"You've been going on a lot of walks lately."

"Are you sure you want to keep going?"

"Why do you stay here?"

"Isn't it all just a bit busy inside your head?"

"There are enough bad things in life that'll come looking for you. You don't need to go looking for them."

"You solve everyone else's problems, but never your own."

"I think you care about other people more than you care about yourself."

"What's the matter with you? You're different. You've changed."

"Don't you think you're getting a little obsessive?"

"Do you really think that running away will do you any good?"

"What time of the day do you normally start drinking?"

"You have to be careful fighting monsters or you might turn into one yourself."

"Are they the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?"

"In my experience, I find that when you set out to change the world, the world changes you instead."

"Are you really going to start the day with wine?"

"You're not going to go all obsessive, are you?"

"Don't you, just for once in your life, want to be taken care of?"

[gryffn]

@anmehil, ren: ‘ what are you making today? ’

though the low, cold wind of a storm moans in the gloom beyond the walls of lazare's hut, within them, it is warm.

it is strange to think of the space as his—the witcher is reluctant to do so. he has organized his personal effects and supplies as best he can in the mostly barren structure and scattered a few of the things he has crafted in his idle time throughout the space otherwise, but that reluctance is as if a physical thing itself. it is painfully obvious that lazare doesn't know what to do with this dwelling (home?) he has been given.

the quiet this hut provides has given him ample opportunity to while away the time and indulge in the interests he allows himself, at the very least.

the griffin does not look at ren as he answers, "hair sticks." he carves at a length of antler with assiduous focus as he sits on the floor before a fire in the hearth, the accessory half-formed. he has not made up his mind yet if they are for himself or if they are to sell, trade, or barter with. "i mean to make a few."