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It had, sometime in the last week, occurred to Naz that it was improbable that there was any other cat in Ashdown that went for as many walkies as Fiene. At the very least, she'd yet to meet one; hell, she'd yet to meet any other cat out on walkies.

Was it a European thing?? Was that why she'd never seen any other cat on a leash here?

That would explain some of the looks she got from bypassers too. And the chuckles. Probably the comments, too.

Not that that was going to stop her, mind. Fiene loved their walks, loved seeing the world outside of their home and the people that stopped to pet her. And to be honest, she thought it was quite fun too - what pet owner didn't like seeing their pet happy?

So here they were, once again, out on a walk in the neighbourhood. It'd been pretty uneventful so far, the regular slow moving to accommodate the ginger tabby's exploration.

So slow in fact that they were now no longer moving at all. Nazriya looked at her cat questioningly, only to see Fiene staring very intently at - a guy? Why-

oh. She blinked, finally registering the fact that this guy also had a kitty with him.

Fiene trilled out a few squeaks, body language excited as she strained her leash to get closer to the other cat. Obligingly her owner moved closer.

"Hey!" How to phrase this... "d'you think your kitty might be up for a kitty meetup?" She grinned, gesturing with her free hand to Fiene who was watching the white cat before her in rapt attention.

"She's super cute! Love the collar - Fiene's leash is a bit more utilitarian, sadly," which was true; the harness and leash was a dull grey colour, practical but not very pretty.

The ginger british shorthair imitated the other cat, stretching her neck until they nearly booped noses. Sniffing with great interest, Fiene quickly decided that Mogget was a potential friend and moved closer to give him a gentle headbutt of affection.

"Right, nice to meet you! I'm Nazriya and this is Fiene," she gestured towards the large kitty currently attempting to make friends, "as you might have sussed by now." The last sentence had her mouth quirking, aware that she'd probably seemed a bit cat-crazy, talking about her cat and not even thinking to introduce herself before after he had.

"Mogget can walk entirely without a leash?" Her tone was curious, not incriminating. "That's pretty damn amazing; Fiene follows me well enough, but if something spooked her I'm worried she'd run for the hills without her leash on."

"That's handy!" She grinned warmly, "maybe I should try walking Fiene without a leash sometime, but I dunno - she doesn't usually go out without the leash on and I'm not sure how I'd feel about her going out alone. I'm a bit of an overprotective cat-mom," a self-depreciating laugh and a shake of her head followed the admission.

Jubilant that her overture had been accepted (and escalated!), Fiene tried to reciprocate the grooming as best she could while being groomed herself. A cat friend!! She'd met many nice humans while she was out and about, but Mogget was the first cat. That made him a very special cat friend, indeed.

"I know that feeling! Doesn't pretty much every cat owner?" She shifted on her feet, slightly jutting out her hip as she kept an eye on the two felines and her conversation partner. "They're so cute," she sighed dreamily, gesturing at the cats, "I didn't know she'd be this open to another kitty, but I guess you live and learn."

At his words she grinned a bit teasingly, "that was a fair amount of 'um's, that." And also pretty adorable, but men never seemed to take that compliment too well so she didn't vocalize it.

"Yeah, I just moved to this continent like.. two weeks ago? So it's no wonder you having seen me around," she finished with a large grin.

"And thanks for the invite! I'll probably stop by sometime; you guys carry fiction too, right? It's been a long time since I read a good high fantasy book," she sighed, "like... not since I was a teen. I used to read tons of books but then it kinda shifted to playing games instead, you know? And I always had a s**t-ton of trouble finding fantasy books with female protagonists, but maybe that was just the stuff that got translated into Danish."

"Some cats are just gifted, I guess," she laughed. "But thanks for the advice - I only got her recently, so I still need to learn all of her quirks."

Ah s**t, she'd made him uncomfortable. "No, nono! There's nothing wrong with it, I'm just-" she stopped, thought and deflated, "ah ********, sorry, I didn't mean to be a b***h. It's cute alright? I gotta tease people when they're being cute, it's a thing."

She took a moment to consider before answering his question, "I... overall like it, so far. It's been pretty great, this city doesn't really fit the stereotypes Europeans have of Americans. Or the people don't, anyway, and that's the bit that matters." Shrugging with a smile, she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"That sounds fantastic!" Clasping her hands together, she rocked a little on the balls of her feet. "Mists of Avalon is the only one of those I've ever read, so already that's something new to dig into - darker overtones should be fine, just not-" she made a face; "'everything's death and sorrow and there's no joy in the world ever ever'. Serious tragedy with no uplifts isn't really my thing - if I wanted perpetually depressing I'd just watch the news, you know?"

"That's fine," she waved a hand. "And seriously, it's adorable! It's not something you need to worry about either - everyone's got a thing like that, yeah? A lot of the time I forget to put 'I' or 'I think' in front of my sentences, which I'm told makes my opinions sound like statements, which can get a bit confusing to people sometimes - so yeah, everyone's got something!" Christ, she'd really messed up here.

"Sure, that would be awesome but uh, I didn't bring my wallet with me when we went for a walk." She scratched the ridge of her nose, thinking; "Could you guys hold the books until later? I'll come back and pay."

But it was good to hear that she could bring Fiene; "I like that, a cat friendly shop! Everything is better with cats, right? Oh, and I think I've heard of that! It's got a tv-series, yeah? He's gotta be something of a local celebrity then."

"Excellent," she grinned confidently. "I'll be able to come back and get them later today, or tomorrow at the latest in case of, y'know, the sky falling down or something."

She waved a hand dismissively, stepping around the two cats and their love fest to stand beside Zac; "nah, you don't need to worry about that! I haven't even read the books, wouldn't really be fair to ask him for a signing when I'm not actually a fan. To be frank, I can't even remember the entirety of his name - Alg... something, obviously, but that's as far as my shoddy memory goes. Oh! But Idris Elba stars the tv series, right? He's ******** gorgeous," she ended on an admiring sigh and a connoisseur's nod.

"Special orders, neat! What kind of stuff do you usually read?" Naz asked with a little tilt of her head and affable curiousity in her husky voice.

"Nuts or dead, honestly. Can't imagine anyone with any sort of sense left who doesn't like him!" She looked quite vehement at the idea, before the expression faded as Zac continued talking. "Yeah, I get what you mean - something important always gets lost in the retelling, yeah? Like Game of Thrones, it's practically a different story than the books. But yeah, I might just have to watch the Red Herring too; just gotta decide whether or not to read the books first."

Neil Gaiman... Naz shifted on her feet, humming in thought. "I think I've heard of him; he did a collab with Terry Pratchett, yes? But that's a good policy I think, pretty considerate - and s**t yeah, you know they take their pick when it comes to cover reviews," she gave a derisive snort and crossed her arms. "Nothing impartial there."

Naz relaxed her stance and grinned at him, dimples in her cheeks and all. "I'd love that! Show me all the things, okay? It sounds awesome! Reckon he'd have the right books to read while cuddling up with my cat?"

His enthusiasm was infectious and also super cute. And made him feel shy about himself, by the looks of his flaming cheeks; she nudged him gently with her shoulder, voice gentling to a low lullaby, "and seriously, you don't ever need to be ashamed of being excited over something. Excitement is a good thing! If everyone had a hobby that made them feel that enthusiastic the world would be a much happier place, really."

She'd debated not saying anything about it, but it didn't seem right to just let him be embarrassed over something that was actually a good thing.