"Yeah." He agrees easily and doesn't stop grinning even for a moment.

"That's why I don't have to listen to you anymore. Well, I'm a cat and we're pretty bad at following orders anyway."

He looks around their shelter for a moment. Oh, good. They have a moment. He pulls out the extra rounds of bullets he kept on a belt slung over his shoulder and begins to reload.

"Either way, I get to decide what I'm doing now that you're not my owner and I've decided I'm taking you away from here." A flick of his wrist and there's a click as everything slots back into place.

"We're leaving this place, we're going far, far away from this place, from the Duke, from Alice and from the Queen. We'll go wherever you want to go, and whatever happens I'll never let anything happen to you. I'll stake it on my pride as a tomcat."

He stands up, still short enough that he's coveredby what they've taken cover behind.

"If you're no longer the Duchess then I'm no longer the Cheshire Cat."