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He reached out to brush some of her hair behind her ear, curling his hand over her cheek in the process, stroking it gently with his fingers.

"But....you dont feel that way anymore, do you. And you stopped yourself before anything bad happened...didn't you." John said quietly, not even batting an eyelid at her admission as he stated these facts to her. "Hono'o...you're not a monster. I...I know what monsters are like." He whispered to her softly, scooting forward a little to sayit softly into her ear. "And you're not one. You've never been one. You were just going through a tough period in your life....and things were not as clear as they are now."

Was he speaking about her...or himself? Maybe he was speaking about...the two of them.

"If you dont trust yourself that much, the i'll be here to help you." John said softly, taking her hand and squeezing it again, trying to get her to look in his eyes, which were wide with concern. "Hey..."

"Trust yourself. Okay? If you can't trust yourself, then you'll just wind up overcompensating, and then you'll probably do something you'll regret - so trust yourself." His azure gaze turned serious. "I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't think you were capable of it."

He sighed softly, leaning back in his chair, away from her, and crossed his arms over his chest. He had a slight frown on his brow, as if mulling over the words she had said. He didn't know what to say anymore...nothing he said seemed to make a difference. And aside from trying to knock some sense into her - which he would never do - he was at a loss as to what to do about it.

He stood then, leaning down to kiss her forehead and squeeze her shoulder. "You're right. I'm sure it'll be fine." He said quietly, dismissively, before walking out of the kitchen, his tea forgotten.

He was actually hurt. She hadn't even looked him in the eye...she just continually dismissed it. Eventhing he said, she just turned it around so it wouldn't help her - only reinforce what she was feeling. And that stung, deep in his heart.

Walking down the stairs to the rumpus room below the condo, he walked further in and went down to the gym beneath the condo. The room was expansive, and he didn't know why he came down here, really....until he saw the punching bags lined up along the wall.

Approaching them, he sighed a little, slapping one with his right hand and watching it swing a little...before he jabbed at it with his left fist, making it swing out and back towards him, forcing him to twist his body to the side to avoid it.

Then he began to lay into the bag, giving it short jabs and thick, powerful round-house blows to it's midsection, before he began to really punch it, the frame rattling dangerously with each blow, the material splitting and old rags spilling out with each punch before he finally let loose with a haymaker that split the bag open completely, sending loose rags into the wall behind it as the bottom tore off the rest of the bag and fell uselessly to the floor.

Jutting his jaw in frustration, he moved on to the next bag, this one full of sand - and began to punch this one as well, sparks skittering off his flesh as the blows rocked the bag's frame, again and again...

He was continually pummelling the sandbag, the bag leaping up and around the frame as he did, the giant Aesir having to leap and scoot around the bag to make sure he was in it's swing before punching it.

Sand was beginning to spill onto the gym floor now, the threads on the bag beginning to loosen, Each punch sounded off like a gunshot in the enclosed space, reverberating around the gym, but John didn't care. He just continued to smash the bag around, letting his brain go on autopilot, trying not to think about how little she thought of herself, how she should be more understanding about her powers, and how she could just ******** listen -

Suddenly his fist went straight through the bag, sand spraying the wall and spilling out around his arm. He jerked it once, trying to pull it out, before grabbing it with his metallic arm and pushing as he pulled, tearing it free and letting it hang, the bottom half still full of sand and swaying bizarrely, the punching bag looking like it had been disemboweled.

He sighed heaviily, stepping back from the ruined bags to look at her from across the gym. He doffed his right arm, knocking the sand off it, not looking her in the eye as he did. "Its not the problems that upset me, Hono'o...its that you couldn't look me in the eye."

He shook his head, chuckling at himself as he finally look to her. "By the gods, i know I can be an emotional b*****d at times....but for all your warmth and love and kindness, you can just....it switch off whenever you want. Go quiet, get distant. You put up your defenses, and thats it, not even I can break through them until you let them down..."

He sighed heavily, looking down at his hands again. "All the stength in the world, and I cant get to you when you need it....it makes me feel so powerless..."

John stood with his hands on his hips, drinking in her words, smiling softly at her last comment. "Aye, well...I'll be on my best bahaviour, but he'd better be respectful to his mother or i wont hesitate to clip him around the ears..."

Shaking his head, he approached her in strong strides, grabbing her by the shoulders and squeezing them, looking her dead in the eye. "Odin's Eye, Hono'o, you are stronger then you think! I've seen you face things that would make grown men piss their pants, yet you can't take a little confrontation with your own son?! You're better then this, and you know it! We all know it - Maximos, Ryugi, all of us...we just want you to see it too."

He drew her into his embrace then, clutching her tightly to him as he buried his face in her hair. It was fresh after the bath, smelling strongly of roses. "And don't ever be afraid to ask for my help...for the god's sakes, its why I'm here! I love you, and I want to help you! I'll shoulder any burden you give me, and carry it to the ends of the earth if i have to - thats how much you mean to me..."

"Well, he can't be all bad then, can he?" He asked as he stroked her hair gently. She's done it again...pushed it all away...but then, Rome wasn't built in a day. He would gave to chip away at her until she was exposed...

He kissed the top of her head again before hooking his finger under her chin so she could look him in the eye. "Why don't you go upstairs and make me that cup of tea whilst I clem up this mess I've made - it won't take long. Then we can do whatever you want."

He returned the kiss thankfully, giving her a little pat on the a** as she walked away from him. He shook his head slowly - sometimes she seemed like she could hold the weight of the world - other times she was as meek as a kitten. "Well, at least she's not boring..." John murmured to himself, grinning a wicked grin at just how not-boring she was, before walking to the cupboard and taking out a broom and some bags.

He deftly spot the sand into a pile and bagged it all, unhooking the ruined bags and putting them to the side - he might be able to fix them later somehow. Then he busied himself picking up all the rags, bagging those as well, before leaving them in the cupboard to dispose of later and walked upstairs, the smell of cookies and tea warming his heart...