Soft Serve Death

Val bristled again at Cassie's hug and struggled to push her away. "Pleased to be with the stopping that!" She squeaked.

She then furrowed her brow at Cassie but still listened to what she was saying. She didn't really care for this girl but for the moment she could see at least letting her live. She was being fairly helpful after all. Val then crouched down and eyed Cassie. She shot forward to try and grab at Cassie's legs and bring her down on the back and do like she had seen, getting to the side to try and keep the girl pinned down.

"As long as you're still complaining that just means that you need more hugging. If you want to stop me... you'll have to kill me." Cassie said with a twinkle in her eye, gently poking fun at the pint-sized ex-Russian militant.

Cassie kept her hands high and let Val shoot in on her. She didn't just give her the takedown, she made her work a bit, defending using only her balance and footing and not her hands. When she did hit the mat, with Val ending in side control, she laughed out loud. "Good! Look what a good student you are! Keep this up and I might buy you ice cream afterward."

"So now you're in side control," Cassie said, grabbing Val's wrists and moving her hands to where they needed to be. "The next position that you could transition to from here, the big one, is full mount. Ya know, where you're straddling my stomach. But see how I'm using my leg to stop you from stepping over?" Cassie nodded to her leg, bent at the knee and hip with her thigh tucked against Val's side to keep her at bay. "Go for it, try to get to full mount. I won't make it easy!"

Val wondered briefly if Cassie realized that she was ready willing and able to perform the deed if necessary. It certainly wouldn't take much and Cassie was mostly annoying. But, as long as the girl didn't have a price on her head, she'd be safe from the diminutive assassin, no matter how irksome she was.

"Why would I be with the desiring of iced cream?" Val questioned Cassie from her position. A steady diet of M.R.E's that was good enough for her. And the food at the Von Creuzfeldt estate (Japan Branch) wasn't half bad either, for not being borscht. Val put those thoughts away and listened to Cassie's words. She fidgeted with a mount attempt before feeling Cassie's leg up. Well, it would certainly prove to be a problem but she lifted up her leg high into the air in an attempt to circumvent the pesky limb. She wondered if this was the approach she needed to take. "Should I be with the punching you to help achieve mount?" She asked seriously. Maybe a knee to the gut or something would help as well. Really, in this position, a quick flip of her knife and Cassie's jugular was as good as cut. Wouldn't that be good enough? But Cassie would probably ask her what would happen if she was unarmed. But Val was never unarmed. Even in her current state, she wasn't completely unarmed but Cassie didn't need to know that part and wouldn't know.

"Because it's awesome!" Cassie laughed. Who didn't like ice cream? Val tried to lift her leg up and over Cassie's to straddle her and Cassie, not wanting to give up the position so easily, slid her hips away from Val and threw her leg up higher to block.

"And in a fight you'd definitely have all sorts of strikes available, most of them are just to make the person uncomfortable and won't do too much damage. Knees to the side are big from this position, but if you go too crazy it makes it a ton easier for me to slip out and then there goes your position." She lectured, but she felt like she needed to clarify. "But we're just working on your grappling now."

"There are plenty of different ways to do it, but for now just keep a good grip with your arm, then push down on my knee and try to slip your knee through there... Wait, have you never had ice cream? Because you seem like just the sort of person that would have never had something as simple as ice cream. You have so much to learn other than just grappling."

Cassie laughed again and ruffled Val's hair.

Val huffed against Cassie's face as she heard her words. "I am not with the understanding this 'Awesome' you speak of." She knew what the word meant but how Cassie was using it in the name of ice cream was not something she got. Maybe if she was talking about a new gun or something? "I have been with the having iced cream before." She said. "Pleased to be understanding that I am not with the living in cave... anymore..." Well there was that short stint where she was holed up for about a week but that was a long time ago.

Val brought up her fist and clenched it, slowly pushing it forward to mimic a slow motion strike. Pushing into Cassie's chin a little bit, she tilted her head as if to say. 'I'm not going to actually punch you, but like this?" She then heard Cassie's words and wrinkled her nose. She glanced down and tried to push Cassie's knee away to get onto of her.

If she could get on top of Cassie, she's try and push down on her shoulders to keep her in place. "Why are you with the asking question like that?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. "You are with the squeaky cheeky constant questions." She said as she leaned in closer, her hair falling in front of her face to give her a tunnel visioned view of Cassie's cheerful face. "Why?' She repeated. "You are with the questioning worse than interrogation squad but your questions are with the having innaneness tot hem. Pleased to be informing me of your line of reasoning!" She squeaked out.

As Val managed to gain full mount on her, straddling her stomach, Cassie automatically grabbed hold of her wrists. She planted her feet and bucked once with her hips just to show Val how easily someone in mount could upset your balance if you weren't careful, but then she settled down to let Val speak.

Her eyes softened and she looked up at Val with a loving warmth that came so easily to her. "Why? Because... I like you and I don't see why we can't be friends. You're different... and you must've had some... rough experiences. In Russia, I mean, or wherever, and... well, the only good reason that anyone ever fights is to protect their friends, right? Because you're either the protector or the attacker, and people like us learn to fight because we love to do it but also so we can protect the people we care about. You're a bodyguard now, right? The whole reason you're here is so you can protect people better. You've got the fighting part down, but that's only half of it, right?"

The moment was only offset a little by Val being in her underwear and mounted on top of Cassie. That would've been weird, but Cassie was impervious to distraction when she was in this mode. "Why would you bother fighting and learning to fight if you had nothing to fight for? Right?" She wanted nothing more in the whole world at that moment than to give Val a big hug and hold her until everything wrong that was part of her was made right again.

Val listened carefully to Cassie's words with narrowed eyes. The closeness, the lack of clothing wasn't something that Val even thought of. The two of them could have been naked in each others arms and not a single stray thought would have come across Val's mind. Things like that just didn't register with the Finn. When she was finished she wrinkled her nose at Cassie. "Tch. Elliot comma Cassie, you are with the being quite filled with naiveness. I am not with the having friends. I am not with the having anyone to protect. Pleased to be understanding that I am not with the needing anyone." She pushed up and rolled off of Cassie before sitting up with her back turned. She turned her head to look at Cassie. 'I am not with the liking you. I am with the needing to learn about wimpy simpy grappling because it is with the being necessary for job. Her eyes narrowed again but not at Cassie.

"I am with the being knife." She said as she though about it. "Sharp knife. But it is with the being day and age where there is no need for knife. Even if that knife is with the being sharpest in drawer. Since I can no longer be with the use for having cutting then I am with the being able to do anything I can." Val stood up and looked at her around as she went to her clothes. "I am with the being dog. I am with the being masterless dog. Pleased to be understanding this." Valkoinen then sighed and stepped over to Cassie, bending down a bit and offering her a hand up. "Nyet. It is with the being better if you are not understanding. Elliot comma Cassie would be with the doing well to be with the forgetting this meeting. I will be with the having willingness to compensate you for your time. It is with the being least I can do but you are with the speaking of friendship and ooey gooey lovey things.

"My heart is cold like Finnish winter. Pleased to be ceasing your attempts to melt it, Elliot comma Cassie. I am with the saying this for your own sake." Val would then begin to put her clothes back on, starting with her pants.

Cassie furrowed her brow and studied Val while weathering her words. She didn't like them. Today of all days she felt emotionally raw, and she found herself becoming... angry. Frustrated, even a little hurt, but mostly angry.

She took Val's hand and got to her feet. She stood still while Val started getting dressed, looking down at her feet. By the time Val finished talking, Cassie couldn't take it anymore. She took a couple angry steps toward her and looped and arm under one of Val's. Then with just some leverage and her hip she flung Val violently through the air so that her legs, still tangled in her pants, turned a semi-circle around her head before she hit the mat on her upper back. Cassie immediately stepped over and mounted her.

The words that she had in mind didn't come out as smoothly at first. "You..." She leaned down to get in Val's face, much like Val had done. "Are so full of shit that it hurts my head. So you're so proud of being the best at something that nobody cares about. You don't need anyone, blah blah blah, you're a dog without a master. I bet that sounds real good in your head, but ya know what that makes you? Worthless. Or at least so close to worthless that nobody cares. It's like you've got a giant wad of rubles and that's great, but it won't get you a pack of gum here. The only thing that makes you or what you do worth anything at all is what it means and the people that you do it for. Would you be so... freaking... proud of yourself if you knew what to call yourself?

"And fine, you don't like me, I know that I can be difficult to like. You don't have to like me. But... but..." Cassie felt her face flush hotly. "You... if you hate people so much, if you only care about yourself, how come you're always around them? Why are you here? 'My heart is cold like Finnish winter'," she said mockingly, with a close imitation of Val's accent. She stamped a hand down on Val's chest over her heart. "Guess what, it's not. You're not cold-hearted, you're a liar!" Cassie screamed in Val's face.

Now that her outpouring of emotion had run it's course, she was left feeling really awkward and self-conscious. She hopped off of Val and sat down against a wall with her knees pulled up to her chest. It occurred to her that she had more on her mind that day than just Val and her psycho-killer spetsnaz-bred personality. She got very quiet while she thought through it all while passively watching Val.

Val had thought that things went well enough. Now that she cleared the air, she could get on with raining by herself. perhaps she could even try out the moves she learned on her room mate at home. All in all this was a more or less fruitful endeavor. Cassie had seemed to understand the situation and she had made it through the practice session without having to resort to cutting the spunky red head. As she was bent over to pull her pants up, She noticed Cassie's shadow. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could even say anything, she felt herself being tossed to the ground. With her pants tangled up, she really couldn't react very well and was soon on her back with Cassie on top of her.

Val's crimson eyes watched Cassie with a careful, yet even look. She didn't really understand what Cassie was talking about but kind of understood the gist of it. She didn't realize the girl could get so upset. But at the moment there wasn't much she could do about it. Val let out an 'oof' when she felt Cassie's hand slam against her chest. Her eyes widened slightly and her mouth opened to let out a soft breath. But she remained silent.

Val waited for a second as Cassie got off of her. She followed the girl over to the corner with her eyes before standing up. She pulled her pants back on and retrieved her knife, strapping it to her thigh before going over to Cassie and sitting next to her. She didn't really know why. She guessed this was the least she could do. But she took a spot and looked at the girl. "Elliot comma Cassie." She said in an even tone. "I am with the thinking you are having misunderstanding. I am not with the having pride in skills." She then paused. "And... I am not with the hating you." That was true at least she didn't hate Cassie at all. "I am wiith the having no emotion. This is with the being simplest explanation." The Finn was dancing as gracefully as she could with her words., something she wasn't used to. "If you and I were with the becoming friends then you would be with the putting your life in danger." She nodded. It was partially true. Val didn't have as many people coming after her as she once did but they still certainly tried to eliminate her. "I was not with the bragging about state of life. I was with the merely speaking honestly about it. I am with the being tool. I was with the being taught this. Pleased to be understanding that I am with the accepting life. I am with the thinking that it must not be easy to understand Elliot comma Cassie. You are with the having full and vibrant life. You are with the cheeky weeky smiles and with the having great family and friends." Val then sighed. "I am with the being killer. It is with the being only thing I know how to do. Eventually I will be with the having to leave this place. I am with the seeing no reason to be with the keeping attachments. Are you with the understanding? I am not with the being sure but I am not with the trying to make you angry. Pleased to be knowing at least that."

Cassie didn't look at Val. She sat and listened and waited for her to finish. She wasn't angry, at least not much, but she was upset. Finally, in a quiet, steady voice, quavering just a little she said "Pretend all you want, but you aren't very good at hiding your emotions."

She gave Val a brief sidelong look before returning her eyes to the spot on the floor a few feet in front of her. "Hammers are for nails, screwdrivers are for screws. Fighters fight and soldiers soldier, but what do you do? You're not a soldier, and you're not even a fighter." She turned again and grabbed hold of Val's attention, looking her in the eye sternly. "You weren't born to be a killer. You were trained to be one. And who gave the people who trained you the right to decide your purpose?"

Cassie took a deep breath that turned into a sigh. She absently looked around for a clock or something. "Don't you get it? It's such a waste. Maybe I had a good family life and you didn't. If I was hungry and you had plenty of food, wouldn't you give some to me? I wouldn't say 'no, I was born to be hungry. I am with the havingk cold stomach.'" She said with her Val impression.

"And it makes me angry because you don't get it. You do what someone else once told you to do and you don't give it a second thought. You're not a dog, you're a retard. You take everything for granted. You have no idea how valuable people are, so you're like some homeless idiot blowing her nose on her collection of Van Gogh. What a waste."

"Well," She began, looking over at Val's feet. "I have people that I love and people that love me. You don't. And yet here we are. You're the starving one, and someone gives you food and you push it away and say 'no, I am with the starvingk!' Look, I'm young, but so are you, and I know a thing or two about... stuff. I see you. Okay? I see you and I care about you and I don't want you to go off and be a retard and waste everything. You can keep running around to save your own skin so you can waste your life some more, but it'd be really great if you'd give up some of it so you can take the time to see what it's really like."

Cassie realized that her face was streaked with hot tears all the way down to her chin. She wiped at her face with one hand and sniffled. She closed her eyes and gently rocked back and forth.