"Man, your net worth beats out a lot of countries, you're considered a pretty good dresser, aside from that purple fetish, and there's water freely available," the Vice-President informed the President. "So why the cat spit instead of, say, soap?" He settled in a chair and fixed Lex Luthor with a "this had better be good" expression.
Lex Luthor met it tranquilly. "Actually, the slightly acidic composition of-"
"Okay, shouldn't have asked." Pete hadn't accepted the fact that Tisiphone regularly gave Lex's face and head a thorough cat grooming. Watching her rasp her tongue across his scalp, while Lex read, answered email, or talked over the phone, occasionally reaching up to pet her, still gave Pete a weird feeling on his own head.
As if she knew exactly how thoroughly it gave him the willies, Tissy paused, gazed at him with a contemplative, even assessing gaze, and resumed. He fought the urge to shudder and started to talk business.
"The Social Security folks took it pretty well." He paused and added, "Overall." Pete had been using his trademark, "That just doesn't make sense, folks" line to good effect in dealing with the Social Security Administration, commenting to the press as well as to Congress that it shouldn't be harder to prove a disability than to get a buddy contract. He followed up the GAO reports on inefficiency, fraud, and waste by going to an office and demanding to know exactly what they were doing, right then and there, to get rid of said inefficiency, fraud, and waste. "Those streamlined procedures are paying off. Takes two months now to get the average claim established."
"Great." Lex stretched, and Tissy, annoyed that he had done so mid-lick, swatted him with a firm paw.
"Lex, you really let that cat push you around."
"'Let' isn't really the word. More that it's the mark of a wise man to know when certain things are inevitable."
"And the occasional SenateHoles." Pete snickered to himself and Lex raised an eyebrow. Recognizing that Pete was going to make him ask, he let the silence go on just a bit longer. Pete figured that if he had to put up with the Senate, the least he was entitled to was milking the day's stories, after sending Lex the official notification of whether something had passed or no.
"What did they do now?"
"We got that pharma funding bill to pass, 52 to 48." The bill was one that made pharmaceutical company subsidies for new developments into loans. If the new drug turned a profit of more than twice the loan, the loan had to be repaid, if it didn't but was still valuable, then it didn't. Lex nodded.
"Then the consumer tuna subsidies bill." He looked meaningfully at the three cats. "I explained just who was backing that one and that you might bring them in for another 'visit.' The final vote was 105 to zilch."
"That's a bit irregular."
"Yeah, some of them *really* wanted to make sure it passed."
Lex Luthor met it tranquilly. "Actually, the slightly acidic composition of-"
"Okay, shouldn't have asked." Pete hadn't accepted the fact that Tisiphone regularly gave Lex's face and head a thorough cat grooming. Watching her rasp her tongue across his scalp, while Lex read, answered email, or talked over the phone, occasionally reaching up to pet her, still gave Pete a weird feeling on his own head.
As if she knew exactly how thoroughly it gave him the willies, Tissy paused, gazed at him with a contemplative, even assessing gaze, and resumed. He fought the urge to shudder and started to talk business.
"The Social Security folks took it pretty well." He paused and added, "Overall." Pete had been using his trademark, "That just doesn't make sense, folks" line to good effect in dealing with the Social Security Administration, commenting to the press as well as to Congress that it shouldn't be harder to prove a disability than to get a buddy contract. He followed up the GAO reports on inefficiency, fraud, and waste by going to an office and demanding to know exactly what they were doing, right then and there, to get rid of said inefficiency, fraud, and waste. "Those streamlined procedures are paying off. Takes two months now to get the average claim established."
"Great." Lex stretched, and Tissy, annoyed that he had done so mid-lick, swatted him with a firm paw.
"Lex, you really let that cat push you around."
"'Let' isn't really the word. More that it's the mark of a wise man to know when certain things are inevitable."
"And the occasional SenateHoles." Pete snickered to himself and Lex raised an eyebrow. Recognizing that Pete was going to make him ask, he let the silence go on just a bit longer. Pete figured that if he had to put up with the Senate, the least he was entitled to was milking the day's stories, after sending Lex the official notification of whether something had passed or no.
"What did they do now?"
"We got that pharma funding bill to pass, 52 to 48." The bill was one that made pharmaceutical company subsidies for new developments into loans. If the new drug turned a profit of more than twice the loan, the loan had to be repaid, if it didn't but was still valuable, then it didn't. Lex nodded.
"Then the consumer tuna subsidies bill." He looked meaningfully at the three cats. "I explained just who was backing that one and that you might bring them in for another 'visit.' The final vote was 105 to zilch."
"That's a bit irregular."
"Yeah, some of them *really* wanted to make sure it passed."