The brute was pleased with the solution he had found, that she accepted it. While his borders weren't as strong as he would like, they were strong enough that he felt they would be safely protected. That those within would be able to live with little worry. His protective, possessive nature had a good side, it just, wasn't as obvious until one really looked.

Gwyn had been proud of himself for coming up with his compromise, but it was clear... clear his love disagreed. He frowned, but settled in to listen. To attempt to understand what she spoke of. It was true he would not be able to see things from a feminine perspective; it didn't mean he wouldn't try at least, with her. When she spoke of her former husband, the man steps forward. Gently, reaching with muzzle to rest it upon her crown. Comforting her, because, while the wounds were scarred, they could still cause pain. He knew that at least, even if he couldn't quite understand the duty, the obligation she had felt.

This was all a bit of a mess wasn't it?

He steps back, shuttered orbs flying open at the next words. "The Dieudonne and the Casimir have never really seen eye to eye, but Amra was not my claim." he corrects firmly. He had no idea of her connections, not really, not even when she betrayed them at the clusterfuck. It did explain a lot. A lot a lot. "Nor did I know there was a problem with her, or what issues the Dieudonne hold against me. I never started a thing, it was all them." he rumbles, a touch of heat to his tones. He too was being talkative and it only grew as she continued.

At her anger, his own eyes narrow, exhaling irritation. Don't yell, don't shout, because he does understand why she might be peeved, and she probably understood his own anger and discomfort, she did not deserve to be roared at. Progress no? "If you trust me, love me, you ignore them." he rumbles, the flame of anger hotter, obviously, but not yelling. "Much of my reputation is from that of my family as a whole, not myself, and rumors and slanders spread by those who do not like me. Jewel had that impression of me. We talked and corrected it. I do not know what lies they've been spreading. I just ask you continue to take me for who I am, and not what slander circulates from lips far looser than our own." he states, almost eerily calm. He looks away then, breaking the contact of their gaze, eyes closing and breathes. Controlling his temper for her. "I am trying my love, but changing one's nature is not easy or perhaps possible to the extent... that you seem to ask of me." he admits quietly. Eyes still shut, because there is fear there. Fear of loosing her because he wasn't enough, even as glorious as he was. Let alone, showing any sort of weakness to her was a huge step, but he was beginning to doubt... that it would satisfy her.

Fuck, he couldn't loose her.

Manip/Code by Saph

@Pistis

He tried to comfort her, and she did appreciate it. She was still mad, yes, but she always took notice when he did something for her. She knew he wouldn’t ever feel as she had. But he certainly was trying. He kept trying for her... and she appreciated it. Maybe she was getting cross with him over nothing? She didn’t know anymore, honestly. Amra may not have been his claim but she remembered. She remembered it was the Rhythian who’d seen the woman and immediately claimed her. Gwyn had granted him that power. Yes it was true the Dieu had caused most of the troubles, but that didn’t matter, they’d added fuel to the flame time and time again.

Pistis listened to him with furrowed brows. Yes it was true the Casimir had a reputation. He made it seem like their sexism was just as bad, too, no matter how progressive he claimed to be. Everyone came to a new land and immediately Casimirs were claiming left and right. It was not a good look. She was scared, too, to lose him. Because she was asking a lot. But she’d seen others change, she’d changed herself. She couldn’t understand what held him back. It wasn’t impossible, as he claimed, she knew that much. Was it even right to ask him to change? Did it make her a horrible wife for wanting something different from him? She didn’t know. So she fell silent, eyes cast to the ground. Anxiety creeping and clutching at her stomach and chest.

@Gwyn

Manip/Code by Saph

Gwyn knows he is a monster, a demon, and while he will not apologize for it, he will curb it. Tame his inner beast for her. But is that enough? Is he enough? He doesn't know, because he keeps giving, keeps trying and it seems like its never quite what she wants. In a way its become one sided. Her asking him things and he giving. And giving and giving and giving to the point he wonders if he had given himself away. Who he is as a person... surely not? But its an insidious little though that worms its way in and lingers. It takes a lot to lodge so, but that would do it.

Silence is all he is met with and burning gaze opens. Sear the gap between them as he finds her looking at her paws. Nervous for a reason he didn't quite understand. "Pistis?"He queries, voice soft. Come on, talk to him... tell him... how to fix this. Teach him to modify his requested compromise. Something. Anything but this anxiety. Anything but this fear of loosing her.

Manip/Code by Saph

@Pistis

I’m scared to lose him. I’m scared I’m being selfish. I’m scared I’m being the lion I swore never to be. What is wrong with me! Say something! He’s asking you to, it’s not like it’s hard.

Her thoughts clashed and were opposing. She felt as if she wasn’t quite there. If she just did what he wanted she could get out of her. If she just gave him what he wanted he would be happy. If she just stopped being so needy it would all be better for them. She thought she’d change but she was still that whining, clingy wife she’d been months ago. The one afraid of her own shadow. The on unable to take care of herself. The one who relied on a man to make herself feel better. “I don’t know what to say. I’m just upset.” She shrugged, looking back up at him, “I feel like I’m asking too much and yet nothing at all.”

She didn’t understand why it was so difficult for him to change his ways, in all honesty. It just... seemed easy for her. Maybe it was because she’d changed several times in her life within a matter of time. From strong and sarcastic to weak and tramuatized to slowly becoming stronger. What qualified her to be a wife, a mother, a friend? She still wasn’t all there. She could never be who she wanted. The girl she knew before any of this. Maybe that hurt the most. More than any of this. Worst of all she felt petty and jealous and like the worst version of herself. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know who to believe.

@Gwyn

Manip/Code by Saph

This was supposed to be a discussion and a celebration.. not this. Not both of them drowning in fears, in worries, in what was and what is and what could be. She spoke in response to his question and he answered before her second statement."Tell me what you are thinking.. please"he rumbles, because there was so much going on in her head. There was much in his own... but again, he wanted to help her. Never mind him; he was the strong one and while he showed her some vulnerability he didn't know how to show more. Not really. So he focused on her because it was all he knew to do.
Her second statement had the man cautiously putting a paw forward. Not stepping on it, just putting it next to one of hers. Not sure if he was allowed to step, speaking as he placed it. "Its always easy when its something you have grown up with, known your whole life. " he states, softly. She may have changed a bunch but her basic understanding of the world had not. Her basic paradigm was in tact. His had been shattered, broken, and he was trying to put the pieces back together with a puzzle whose sharp edges did not meet the rounded ones. "I did not. And while everything you ask of me I want to try, I just don't... am I good enough for you?"he asks, finally breaking down to show some of his fears, his thoughts. But its still about her. "I know I don't... I don't deserve you but I want to be. Please tell me what to do, talk to me." he continues, falling abruptly silent and closing those eyes again. Damn it, why was this so hard. "fuck"

Manip/Code by Saph

@Pistis

Pistis felt her worthlessness, all her old thoughts, creeping back into her skull. She’d fended them away while Gwyn was gone. Or tried. She’d tried to stay healthy for her cubs and then strong when they were born. What she was thinking? Gods above he didn’t want to hear even a fraction of what was going on in there. Weakness. Weakness and venom at herself. His words just made it worse, when she admitted she mad him feel, unworthy, she was holding back her tears. Was this even healthy anymore? She couldn’t tell. “I... I make you feel as if you’re not enough?” She invalidated everything about him as wrong. No wonder he felt that way.

“I don’t know what to do- I don’t know how to fix this.” She stepped into him and buried her face in his shoulder, all the anger gone, just grief. “I don’t want to make you miserable. I don’t want this marriage to be... difficult for you.” No, it would have never been easy by any means. Committed relationships rarely were. But it shouldn’t be a struggle everyday. She couldn’t put him through that pain. She didn’t want to.

@Gwyn

Manip/Code by Saph

He didn't know what to do. She wouldn't talk to him. Wouldn't explain. His head shook, trying to explain. "No, yes, I love you so much. I can't loose you. Please tell me what you are thinking."he rumbles, an almost desperate note in his voice. For a man he is unusually intuitive but he is not a mind reader, much as he often pretends to be. He needs a problem, an issue to solve, not this unknown. Not this quiet shattering. Anything but this.

She presses into his shoulder and his body moves. Pressing close, neck snaking around hers. Desperate longing in his every touch, movement, line. "Talk to me, gods below, just talk. " he is begging now. Pleading. How had this entire encounter gone so wrong? What happened to her fire? He thought they were supposed to talk now. "I know you don't. You... You are something that was missing for so long now. I didn't even realize... I". Indomitable man breaks. Looses all words for a moment and reaches out with a forepaw. Pulling her closer still, clinging with a desperation that he never thought he would feel. Would feel again. "I won't claim anyone okay? Does that fix it? Pistis... Fuck don't do this." he whines now. Actually whines. Interspersed with curses he rarely used aloud, it is clear he is hanging onto his usual control by a thread. The storm of feeling sloshing out, splashing around him, on her when he wished to keep it in. To spare her from it. Yet now he cannot help it. "I love you so much it terrifies me." there it is. The ugly truth, he is weak and scared and truly feels more than he ever let's on. Keeping it behind masks is the only way he can function. But she could break it down, lay him bare.

He hated it. Hated being weak and mortal and not strong. It felt like an essential failing of himself. Anxiously he pulls back just enough to nip and groom her nape. It was too much. He needed release, distraction and she had been his favourite one for a long long time now. It wouldn't solve anything but it might take the edge off everything. Or at least that was the lie he was telling himself.

Manip/Code by Saph

@Pistis

The desperation scares her, almost. She’d never quite been needed by a partner. Wanted, yes, but not this incessant need. He promises to stop claiming, and that was really all she wanted him to stop doing, wasn’t it? She just needed to accept and then everything would be fixed and they wouldn’t need to think about any of this anymore. Yes, that was the solution. “Yes, I need you to stop claiming- that’s it.” She nodded as he drew away, making sure he saw him. He still wished to lay with her, and she desperately needed comfort, affection. That was one version of what she needed. “I love you... and there’s one thing I need and then we can stop... whatever this ugly argument is.” Because she so hated arguing and becoming angry and then depressed and then getting over it.

“I need you, your body...” She trailed off, nuzzling him once more, trying to stop that seizing of her chest. It would go away soon, she knew. They don’t need to talk anymore. This would fix everything. She could just... avoid everything else. That would work. She turned after a moment and crouched for him, waiting. Please just help him feel better. At least one of them would be relieved after this encounter.

-fade to black/exit?-

@Gwyn

Manip/Code by Saph

She is his drug, and he an addict, and withdrawal was not pretty. Not something that anyone should see, or wanted to see, and he is terrified of it. Terrified at the depth of his love for her, the need he has for her. Its probably not healthy, but, Gwyn has never been one for good ideas. He has never been one to take the smart route when it came to his feelings. Battle, politics, platonic relationships were chess, feelings an ever changing maze he had always danced around. It was too vast, too nonsensical, too much.

She agrees to his plea, and while he means it in the moment, he would later regret uttering such things. Would regret that they had both shut down and had not truly addressed the issue. His paradigm shift was still happening, still developing, and it wouldn't chance overnight. That and.. she needed to respect that, even if he improved, there would be some things that he would never truly understand, that all he could do to such things was try. That what he was doing now was leaps and bounds beyond what he was, and to be happy with the progress he had made. To let it settle before asking for more. Because he did worry if the changes weren't enough. That everything he had been striving for wasn't good enough and that... he would loose himself in the process. Proud as he is, as seemingly immutable as the man can be, he doesn't want to look at his reflection in the water and see a stranger. To not know himself would be... yeah no, fuck no. That would be so fundamentally wrong that he might just shatter to the point where he could not heal.

There is consent, and the man wastes very little time. Perhaps he is rougher in grabbing his hold, in what was to come than usual. He doesn't really care, just needs to loose himself in the motions, the exertion, and resettle into his skin. To be present in a purely physical way and let his overtaxed brain rest. Something, anything, to distract him.

He is void of joy, of delight, of helping her enjoy it; he just seeks release.

-Fade and exit

Manip/Code by Saph

@Pistis