There's like six different versions of this short conversation between Jekyll and Lanyon. It was just one of those scenes that took a long time to hammer out properly. Usually the version of the scene that wins out is the simplest one, which is definitely the case here. The whole thing ended up pivoting on Lanyon's strange little Nihilistic comment/compliment/back-handed insult?/come on, which I found weirdly sweet. 

Cat update: This is our second cat, Metanephrops-Tau AKA Tanny Bear. He is very soft, blind in one eye, and just got his entire ass handed to him by Pumpkin, who is really upset about something.