Riley is a howler - he yells and complains, then very obviously goes to scratch on his tree (he was taught to do this whenever he wanted something - more fool me!), before mooning about the place. If this little performance doesn't work, he just repeats it, racking up the volume and drama each time!
He only resorts to the STARE if I'm anywhere near the kitchen, when he arranges himself in his neatest, most statuesque sitting pose, and turns on what my OH calls "the evils"
Skye hops onto me and sits, stands or rolls around on whatever else I have dared to do instead of talking to her, purring, trilling and licking like crazy, till eventually my resistance breaks in the face of the cuteness onslaught