Our cats (first marriage) would do the stare down thing, but while Nutmeg had a facial expression of “I am the senior cat, I am in charge, YOU SHALL BOW BEFORE ME!” Coriander seemed more “Did you know your left eye is bigger than your right? Wait, maybe not, might just be your eyebrows. Huh, that is so weird!” This was after Cori got big enough that Nutter couldn’t intimidate her physically anymore, but the psych attempts didn’t work either. Cori didn’t need to be in charge, she just liked everybody.