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Chill people. Doc Dan may not be humbling The Horse. But the town sure is. They have him running errands and doing menial and manual labor! They are serving him humble pie right now.
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Is that how you read the situation? Do you think the horse FELT like he was winning when he was being treated like the town's errand boy? He the proud MMA god!? Did he look HAPPY when Dan basically said he would only sleep with him for money? Because to me, the horse looked pissed as fuck.
He literally thought that Dan felt colder than he used to be. Sounds like he was expecting the same sweet ol' submissive Dan from before. But he ain't getting that, is he? Dan is playing the game right, what he is doing is working.
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Yes! I see the benefit in all this, to me this is nothing close to punishment and I hope he gets some real heavy karma soon.
Even though he feels humiliated doing manual labor, he is getting better exercise outdoors than being locked up in a gym. He feels that Dan is cold but Dan is not cold enough, he is too polite. But I know where the plot is going so I just wait...
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The redemption arc is not always blatant, sometimes it's subtle. And yes, I felt the same as you at first. But then I stopped thinking about the story from MY perspective and put myself in his shoes. He must be hating how he has lost control of, basically everything. I find comfort in knowing he is out of his comfort zone. Because of Doc Dan. So it might not be huge, but it's the beginning and that is rewarding enough. For nor, anyways.
He is so stinking cute!