#val text

I don't know, but I do get the feeling people in the fandom take everything he says much more literally than it's supposed to be. (Granted, the same people seem to not understand that Poison is a metaphor, so what can I expect, really.)

I think there's something about how in canon, Val tells Angel that he's "lucky" he makes him money, but since people don't permanently die unless killed by an angel weapon (which Velvette even refers to her model needing to "pull herself back together", so they seem to be aware of this), what difference does that actually make? If money was the only issue, it wouldn't really change anything.

Which, all of that is why I do think that Val does canonically care about Angel on some personal level (regardless of the expression being entirely fucked up). He does classic abusive relationship things, but it is significant that he does-- because if it was really all about the money, he has Angel under contract, so most of what he does would be unnecessary.

But also killing people or saying you'll kill people are both things that don't seem to have a lot of weight in the Hellaverse, and still Valentino doesn't do either to Angel Dust.