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[Ways he was not expecting the answer to what gender is the cat: From the pitch of a very human voice. He drops her in surprise.]

What?

[ And she drops down to all fours, looking generally alarmed and awkward. And then, very slowly, she starts to slink away. ]

[It's not instant. Recognition very rarely is. Frankly, it isn't even the words. It's the squawk.]

...

So, how long has your name been quite so literal?

[ Uh -
Um -

Shit.

She lets out a little meow, in the hopes that that will throw him off the scent. ]

[Really?

Picks her back up.]

Augh, fine!

[ She relents, kicking her feet. ]

Put me down or I will claw you, I swear.

I think not from this angle.

[Still, he set her on the table, an eyebrow raised at her.]

I'll give you: your disguises are improving.

... Secondly, it is very good to hear you again.

[ She settles down on the table; her tail primly curls around her. ]

Yeah. Well. It's a new Porter power. So I can't really take credit for the quality of this one. And, erm - yeah. I'm glad that your anti-Soviet efforts are going reasonably well...

The cover holds and your work was recovered.

[There is an almost dizzying unreality to it. Talking to a cat who is the person of someone he'd watch die, messily at that.]

That much holds, though little progress remains on the overall situation. It may be a long haul.

Mm.

[ Her tail lashes just a bit. ]

At some point the Americans have to step in to help, don't they?

Oh certainly. Beyond the our value as a commodity, it was done on their own soil, a particularly noticeable insult to their show of strength and security to the rest of the world.

The trick, I imagine, is that we are not civilians to the ruling government here. We are hostages in a country that has a policy of discarding hostages for national security. But unusual hostages of political, military and social power that our opinions may desperately matter in the war that has just begun. I can see both the complications and why the Russians have taken the tact they did.

Yeah.

[ She sighs, stretches. ]

Well, I'm sure that if anyone can handle it, you lot can.

My goals are a bit more focused than that.

[He sets his chin on one fist, looking down at the feline. ... It IS a blastedly strong urge to resume an idle petting, even with the weirdness of knowing WHO it is.]

I do wonder which one of you convinced the other of this particular endeavor.

[ A little laugh. ]

Well. I was going to do it alone at first. He...convinced me to take others with me. [ A beat. ] I'm terribly glad he did, even if it did put him in a bit of danger.

I daresay none of you were in 'a bit' of danger. Though the strength in numbers is quite rarely physical.

[He lifts a hand, and stops, it hovering before her awkwardly.]

[ A little awkwardly: ]

You can pet me. I would really quite like it, actually.

[There's a beat, and then he givers her a nearly military half nod before the scritching resumes, occasionally pausing to rub an ear.]

... You've told them, already, I trust.

[ She relaxes into it, pressing her head up against his hand. And she confirms: ]

Yeah. They know. [ A beat. ] I needed to check to make sure they were all right. I was worried about them.

[He uses barely more than knuckle to rub along her cheeks and chin, but she's almost worryingly tiny like this. Aral is... quite a bit more delicate with the petting now that he knows it's a person, somehow. He'd never actually thought about how SMALL cats are.]

They closed ranks and kept their illusion admirably well in the aftermath. I am surprised the Soviets took action against Lucifer actually, I may have underestimated them.

[ That raises a purr from her. It rumbles pleasantly through her chest; her eyes close as he rubs that knuckle on her head. ]

Well. My death meant that they weren't able to get the names of my co-conspirators out of me. Which I imagine displeased them very much.

[ She cracks one eye open to look at him. Cautiously, she admits: ]

That's why I asked Lucifer to kill me. So that I wouldn't be able to give any of you up.

[That confession wasn't one he expected. The petting halts a moment... and then resumes.]

Was that display also planned?

[ That's a little better than she expected. She opens both eyes and responds to him: ]

Yes and no. I asked for it to be public, so that Gregor and Nicolas would absolutely get word and flee if they had to flee. So that the Soviets couldn't suppress or interrupt the message in any way. The torture...That was Lucifer's addition.

[His expression is inwardly focused, calculating.]

It seems I truly have no measure of him. Did he work with you in our shared interest or merely to take such an opportunity for himself?

[ She hesitates, then confesses: ]

I don't know. Honestly. I think...it was for the fun of killing me, more than to help me. But I'm not sure.

Ah. [Men like that, they are not particularly the worst of all evils, and it seems the theists view of the devil, a personal tormenter rather than a grand maestro, seems to at least hold for this incarnation. But evil none the less.]

... You should know you have aid available, upon your call.

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