I don't want to rest in peace
I'd rather be the ghost that annoys you

Valen's agreement to speak privately with her settled Cas a bit, the adrenaline fading to a more normal level. Moving cheerfully, if a bit stiffly, she moved away from the small crowd that had gathered to watch and would, hopefully, quickly disperse without a whole lot of ado. She wanted to talk to Valen and track down Vana (good time for a lesson for her, if battle medicine was what she wanted to do) and then sleep for a solid day. It wasn't really that bad but she'd lost quite a bit of blood and the coagulating mess over the still flowing larger wounds felt less than comfortable. Rest was what she needed was all and she'd be right as rain shortly enough.

Her two-toned gaze tracked Valen as she moved to seat herself, head cocked to the side inquiringly. She'd slipped far enough away to be out of earshot, if they spoke quietly, and she waited for him to join her there. She'd expected him to go comfort Rhythm, especially since the girl had appeared to faint, but she must have mustered the energy to sulk off somewhere because she'd gone by the time Cascade turned back around to look. Cascade shrugged. It wasn't like Cascade would have had a problem with cleaning wounds she'd inflicted but it didn't seem like the Destruction cared to stick around. Maybe she'd gone to track down Revenge. Heaven knew the boy didn't seem to do anything lately that didn't involve putting his dick in someone's hole, but oh well. Surely for his... whatever distant relationship she was to him... he would step up.

Taking a deep breath and wincing - and reveling - in the pull of wounds, she waited for the alpha to move close enough for quiet speech.


"Speech"

I hope you can make me laugh
Six feet down when we're bored of each other

He approached with eyebrows raised in a question. She should be off having her wounded tended to, not chatting it up with him. He could wait. Whatever she needed could surely wait. ...or could it? The thought was mildly concerning. As he approached he studied her face in the hopes of gleaning what information he could from her expression. She looked tired, but who wouldn't be after a fight like that? Their proximity to the gathering was enough of a hint, so when he was finally within speaking distance he queried in a low voice, "Is everything alright, Cas?" ""

Valen followed along and, taking the hint, lowered his voice as he asked the question. Not exactly one she had been expecting - was everything all right? "Nothing's wrong," she assured him quickly. "I just want to make sure we both know what to expect from this." She took a deep breath and let it out, wincing internally at how that sounded. "Ok so... I know this position is meant for... your wife and all and you are probably wondering why I would challenge for it to begin with." His initial joke that she had done it out of boredom still stung a little, but that was hardly his fault. She hesitated, then fixed him with a hard stare. "I did it because I care about you, a lot, and I wanted to be in a position I could be more help to you than just another fighter. I wanted to be the one who always has your back. I want to protect you when you need it. I wanted to make sure you had a partner , not a pretty face who didnt even have to fight for it." She grinned then, a little lopsided, creasing the scar across her muzzle. "Sorry I couldnt provide a pretty face along with it." She sobered again, cocking her head to the side. She had by no means exhausted what she had to say but really she had been rambling and it would be at least polite to give Valen the chance to say something while she caught her breath. Maybe she should have waited after all - pain and weariness dragged at her and she was concerned her rambling wasn't quite as coherent as she had hoped...

A clumsy start soon turned into an explanation that froze him in place. The comment he'd made to Cascade before the fight had been lighthearted; he knew she acted for a reason. She always did. However her motives had been unknown to him until now. And now, knowing what he did, Valentine was at a loss for words. To sum it up, he was grateful. Those three little words didn't do his feelings justice. Valentine sneaked a peek over at the lingering stragglers, trying to gauge their attentiveness and in turn the sanctity of his and Cascade's conversation. They were all drifting away so he was confident that their conversation was private. Nevertheless he intended to keep his voice low enough for her ears only. Stepping forward Valentine sought to reach out and affectionately brush his lips across Cascade's scarred nose. "I think our definitions of beauty are different." He did not know what to say. Only two words came to mind and they did not convey the depth of what he was feeling. Valentine said them anyway. "Thank you." He sought her gaze in the hopes of gauging her reaction while he tried to find the right words. "That means a lot to me. I need a partner. Someone who can do what I do and," his eyes never left hers, "I think no one is better suited for the position than you." ""

At Valen's words, and his touch, she blinked at him in surprise and - yes - gratitude. She relaxed into his affection and confidence in her. She had confidence in herself, she knew what she was capable of and she knew how to apply it, but to know that Valentine had confidence in her as well was strangely invigorating. She took a deep breath and let it out contentedly, surprised at the rush of pride she took in his words. No one had ever really... expressed any sort of opinion that she was worth much of anything before - not her mother, not Neios, and most certainly not Nausica - so she'd always just sort of done without the need for any sort of outside ego boost. It felt... really good.

Oh wait, she was forgetting something - namely, the whole point of this conversation. She went to bump him affectionately with her shoulder - oh ouch no, fuck, bite wounds - and settled instead for swiping her tongue affectionately across his muzzle. "Damnit Valen, stop being adorable so I can concentrate."

She ruthlessly remarshaled her thoughts and went back to Super Serious Cascade. "I wanted to talk to you about what this rank means for us." She gave another internal wince, knowing that sounded like she was fishing for some kind of emotional assurance, which was exactly what she was trying to prevent with this conversation. It was surprisingly hard to concentrate when she was bleeding everywhere. Stupid body. Pay attention, Cas!

"So here's the deal. I don't want to be your wife. I don't want to be your one-and-only, lawfully wedded and all that. Hell I don't even believe in matrimony, or monogamy. Me being loyal to you has nothing to do with obligation or promises or... Well anyway. I want you to keep on doing what you're doing because it makes you happy - I assume anyway - and I care about your happiness way more than I care about anyone else's stupid feelings. I wanted to tell you this because..." she trailed off a little bit, a bit lost and flustered in her speech from the ache in her hip and neck. "... because I was afraid you'd feel like you would need to pretend to be in love with me or something and you'd feel trapped and unhappy and that would make me unhappy and maybe it's a little selfish of me but I don't want you to be put in some stupid emotional cage."

She blinked. "Wow, that all sounded very confusing and stupid. Long story short I care about you and want to help you and the idea of you being trapped by stupid social things makes me want to bite something and I wanted to make sure you and I were on the same page and you weren't expecting me to demand something like that. You are my best friend I have ever had, Valen, and I want to make sure you're happy." She smirked. "And help you take over the world. That seems like something fun to try."

"Damnit Valen, stop being adorable so I can concentrate." His expression fell in mock hurt and his voice took on a petulant edge as he retorted, "I can't." Valentine couldn't keep the facade up for long; in a matter of heartbeats he abandoned the sulky expression in favor of a teasing one, his lips lifting in a small, impish smile as he regarded her. Before he could fully embrace the lighter atmosphere Cascade's expression shifted and she parted with a statement that gave him pause. Uh oh. He sobered, his own expression slowly shifting to better convey his acceptance of the coming Super Serious Business Talk. What he got wasn't quite the Super Serious Speech he'd been expecting. Again she managed to surprise him. He was beginning to think she had special powers in that regard. The flood of words set off a chain reaction and freed a flurry of rapid fire thoughts and feelings that threatened to overwhelm him. He was grateful. Humbled. How could he be so lucky? Valentine's gaze dropped as he searched for words. He'd never intended to make whoever earned the position of Et Uxor his one and only mate. It was a political position, plain and simple. But knowing that didn't diminish the weight of her words. The King didn't know where to start, didn't know which statement needed to be addressed first. So he just jumped in. "It's not stupid." The statement about him having to pretend to be in love with her stung. Valen leveled a gaze at her. "I think you're undervaluing how much you mean to me. Cas," He snorted softly, a hint of a smile tugging up the corners of his lips before he parted with the words, "And you're definitely not being selfish." Selfless probably a fit better even if it wasn't an exact fit. "As far as your new rank goes we are on the same page," he said firmly, "But I'm not entirely sure we're on the same page relationship-wise. Make no mistake, I want to be happy and I want to take over the world -you're right, that does sound like fun – but what about...your happiness?" He shook his head, grinding his teeth in frustration as he tried to say what he wanted to say with a measurable amount of tact. "You are my best friend. I am extremely fortunate to be able to call you that. But our relationship shouldn't feel so one-sided.” He sighed and then gave up. ""