Guess who's back, back again

Chaos was on his feet once more, and without the need to conform to pack standards of mentorship she'd quite happily gone back to teaching both Chaos and Vana everything she knew, though at this point there wasn't really anything she could teach her only daughter for healing. It was more working with them these days, which she found strangely gratifying. It felt a lot like working with Valentine... though perhaps that was just wishful thinking, or simply because he and the kids were really the only ones in the world she'd been able to grow close to, particularly after her family had abandoned her. Right now the kids were off doing their own things. Chaos was hunting, Vana off in her den making more of that bruise concoction Cascade had stumbled on a while back, and Seraphim was off doing whatever it was Seraphim did, and Cas - well, Cas was enjoying a lazy day. She'd probably go join Chaos later in hunting, maybe take down something a big bigger with her big saber-toothed son than she'd be able to manage alone, but for now she was just sunning herself in the weak winter sun and just relaxing.

The howl from the range made her open one eye skeptically before closing it and shifting into a more comfortable position.

A second later she was scrambling to her paws with a yip of joy. That was Valentine! Not some wet-behind-the-ears would-be claimant of Imp's old range, but the big man himself.

With a scattering of dead leaves and grass Cascade launched herself headlong for where the call had come from, and where else but the metal beast he was so fond of? She didn't slow until she'd almost run headlong into him. Her first instinct was to tackle him, but she checked her forward rush in an instant when she saw the state he was in and instead minced up with more delicacy to press herself full against his shoulder. It was as much to lend him some small support as it was to give herself the pleasure of feeling his warmth against her own shoulder. The disease had taken far more of a toll on him than she would have hoped, but he was still here. Gently she reached up and sought to plant submissive little nibbles along his lower jaw. She felt too big for her skin, glowing and practically vibrating, as though she were going to burst into Cascade-confetti with excitement at having her best friend returned to her alive. "You look like hell, Valen," she chided laughingly, trying to hide some of that ecstatic glow behind that mask of amusement.