Ryker's Guide (Mild)

Believe Me

Carbry

Carbry didn't know what to do.

He had been angry at Daryl but because the man had been flippant about his own health. The fact that he had not been able to figure out a solution that kept the man healthy and that Daryl had been supremely reckless in exacerbating the issue had drawn out more fury than Carbry had really expected. Not many people could make Carbry angry enough to lose his cool, but he was literally watching the man he loved waste away.

And the cowboy didn't seem to care.

It scared Carbry so much that he had let his ire get the better of him. But he had seen Ryker and Daryl get into far worse yelling matches. Daryl had never shown any fear for the younger vampire, even when Ryker had been vibrating with fury. But for some reason, Carbry had just utterly terrified the man, and that made Carbry's heart break even as he reacted reflexively and caught the fox-like canine that tried to dart between his legs.

Tanuki weren't violent. They were canines that were mostly related to foxes, though they were known in mythology as being lucky, albeit mischievous, shapeshifters. Carbry had never met an actual Tanuki shapeshifter before, though he had seen the animal in Asia as well as in Northern Europe after it had been accidentally introduced there.

Still, the whine that Daryl gave off as Carbry cradled him on his back broke Carbry's heart more. In a small, fluffy animal form, Daryl only had access to claws and teeth, none of which he attempted to use on Carbry. Instead, the cowboy-turned-shapeshifter merely went limp in his hands, body trembling in fear.

It should have been ridiculous, Carbry standing there naked and holding the furry form of his lover in his arms, unsure about how to coax him into shifting human. But Carbry also knew that Daryl didn't have a lot of experience with the variety of animals that he was. Even the shapeshifters Daryl had tried to talk to, didn't understand exactly what the man was going through, so most of them had been unable to help.

And with each new species that Daryl adopted, things changed a little bit more, and Daryl had mentioned a couple times that he had to wrestle with different 'monsters'. Therefore, it was surprising that Daryl, fearing for his safety, had not shifted into a form that Carbry wouldn't have been able to control safely, a form far more ferocious than the small being trembling in his arms.

The last time Daryl had been angry, Carbry had seen him shift into a sharur, and it had taken some very careful convincing to prevent a fight that Carbry didn't know how to finish without seriously hurting someone.

"Shhh...I'm not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you." Carbry murmured as he loosened his grip on Daryl's chest area to stroke his fur gently.

Daryl didn't try to escape, just continued trembling in Carbry's arms. Though the whining stopped, thankfully. He could feel the man's heart racing a mile a minute, the small canine mouth open in a silent pant, even as those dark eyes watched Carbry fearfully.

Carbry frowned softly, his expression crumbling as he tried to confront that fear. He had spent so long thinking he was a monster and had only just recently begun to believe that he was redeeming his own humanity. "I was angry because you're scaring me, Daryl."

Another pitiful whine and a little panicked squirm were Daryl's only responses. He thought Carbry was going to hurt him, and that notion made Car's heart ache even more.

"No... not like that... You aren't looking after yourself. You look... you look like you've been starved for months. I... I'm supposed to be able to fix this... but you're not letting me. It's like you don't even care..." Carbry shook his head, his voice breaking with his pain and worry.

But he kept petting that soft fur, feeling Daryl relax and the trembling slowly fade away, so he continued talking. "Even knowing how worried Ryker is, how concerned Meriwa is, you won't even do it for them. I don't know why you won't let me help you. I lost my temper, I know. I'm sorry. But you have to know I wouldn't ever hurt you."

Even in Tanuki form, Daryl's sceptical expression showed through. It was as amusing as it was heartbreaking, and Carbry sighed softly and walked out of the bedroom and into the living room where he took a seat on the overstuffed chair he usually cuddled with Meriwa on. He cuddled Daryl close, worried that if the man bolted, he would never get a chance to explain himself.

"I know... what you saw today, and what I am capable of is incredibly intimidating. But I care deeply for you, cowboy. You could never make me angry enough to harm a hair on your head."

Carbry continued murmuring to Daryl, stroking his side and chest area, feeling the small form relax and then curl into him even as those eyes lost their terror and eventually closed. Carbry only minded that the man was drifting off in animal form because he wanted to actually talk with the cowboy, not just at him.

Carbry wanted Daryl to talk to him, to open up and let Carbry convince him that he loved him. Every strange, weird part of his cowboy was enthralling. And Carbry also wanted to tell Daryl that what he was doing was wrong and that they needed to solve this near-starvation thing.

Eventually, though, Carbry knew he would have to let the cowboy go, but he didn't want to yet. He didn't want to let the man leave without hearing him out and understanding how much he cared for him. Carbry feared that if Daryl walked out the door, he would never see him again. And beyond his own selfish need to keep the man around, he knew Ryker and Meriwa would never forgive Carbry or Daryl if he inadvertently pushed the man away. And, if Daryl left them all and still couldn't figure out his hyper-active metabolism, there would be real danger to his safety.

A million worse case scenarios went through Carbry's head as he switched to reassuring the man in Gaelic, knowing it was a language Daryl had learned.