[ There's been a small invasion in the Barrayaran Household. A very small invasion, in point of fact. A little cat is wandering in through a door that's been left ajar, padding silently into a room - which, Kitty realizes with a little start of guilt, is a bedroom, and Cordelia and Aral's bedroom. Even as a cat, she doesn't have any right to go in here...Yet it would look a little weirder if she were just to suddenly back out instead, especially when she looks up and sees Cordelia looking at her.
Oh, dear. Especially since...Cordelia is so kind; she's probably not going to tell the cat to shoo, is she? ]
[ Oh, hell. Yeah, she's startled her, then...She can't help but feel a little bad. But Cordelia seems friendly enough. And Kitty can't help but be a little curious, now that she's in here, just what sort of person Cordelia is when there aren't others around. She has her suspicions - that the answer will be that Cordelia is almost exactly the same as when there are people around.
So she wanders over. Lets her human-mindfulness sink to the background, lets her cat-mentality take over a little more. And she looks up and allows a quiet meow to escape. ]
[ It elicits a smile from her, already squatting down as the cat approaches her and holding out a hand for it, offering the back of her hand for sniffing. ]
Brave little thing, aren't you? I wonder who let you in.
[ And Kitty smells it - she's not cat-minded enough to be able to sort out where Cordelia has been, or what the smells on her hands mean, but she has enough to know that there's nothing there to distrust. And why would there be? So the next step is to butt her head against Cordelia's hand - because the bossy girl is also a bossy cat, and is perfectly willing to demand attention. ]
[ If nothing else, it smells clean and fresh, having just come out of the shower minutes ago. She chuckles lightly, more than willing to pet her, concentrating first behind the ears then under the chin. ]
[ What is this sheepish bullshit. Cordelia is having none of it or this supposed rudeness business, just swooping down and scooping Kitty into her arms, hugging her tight, though careful not to crush her in this smaller form. ]
[ She lets out a soft little cry of surprise with those arms wrap around her. It's entirely unexpected, and entirely welcome. After a moment, she relaxes into it, burying her face against Cordelia's front and purring shyly. ]
[ She lifts her head slightly, to look Cordelia in the eye. Her ears prick forward as she asks - ]
Are things okay here? I talked to Gregor already, and he just wanted to make sure that I knew that the war efforts were going all right. But - are they okay?
[ She relaxes her grip on Kitty then, settling to sit cross-legged on the floor, letting Kitty be in her lap while they talk if she wants to be. ]
You did, with Gregor? [ She bites her tongue there, holding her questions for now to answer Kitty's. ] We're all right for the most part. Some of us going more stir crazy than others.
He's a friend that's been attending the same lovely seminars we have. I'm making sure he hasn't been acting off, I don't know what kind of crap they're stuffing into everyone's heads.
Even if he forgot, I have the coordinates of the closet now.
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