Quote:“We can be,” was the calm answer. “Are there chimeras on this world? I have not scented any.”
“Oh. Well, no, they’re not real. They’re a myth. You know, legends.”
So this being is standing in front of him and he's saying they're a myth.
Quote:For real?” he squealed. “Oh, man! I would so love that!” Then he deflated. “But I can’t. I don’t have a passport. And a flight there costs lots of money. I know, because I looked it up once when I thought I might visit Billy.”
Hasn't this boy's mother told him not to go off with mythological strangers?
Quote:A mouse?” Freeman squeaked, jumping up from his chair. “Where?”
I find it difficult to believe Alec would be afraid of a mouse. Let me think this over. Straker doesn't generally scare him but a mouse does?
Quote:He smiled wryly at it, then made a discovery. “Oh! Sorry, Xen. I didn’t realize that you were a lady mouse.”
Straker has sharp eyes. Actually you sex a mouse from the distance of its..oh, never mind.

Straker having had one as a pet would no doubt have had a Guide to Mousekeeping, and know the differences between the sexes. With rats, it's
extremely easy.
I
loved this story. In this story, your Straker is fairly close to my usual Straker. I really enjoyed this, especially Straker making Alec's life hell as usual.
Denise, you've had tea with Sir Perry in the Between, haven't you?
Just let me say that the ending is additionally risque because it leaves their alliance up to the imagination. Yet it still is suggestive enough. I very much liked how you handled it, and aren't the best stories ones in which the characters take over?
There's going to be a definite spring in Straker's step when he reports back to SHADO the next day