Julia had been studying at the table when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up, but didn't see anything.
About ten minutes later it happened again, but again, by the time she looked up there wasn't anything to see. This time, however, she got up. Because this being the physical kids cottage, she wasn't going to trust random movements.
She caught sight of the cat as it left the main living area and she just stared after it for a moment before she realized Fen was on the couch.
"Hey Fen? Did you just see a giant orange cat go by?"
Fen glanced up at Julia, looking away from her phone. She was halfway toward sending another flirt on the dating app. “You mean Garfield?”
"No, Garfield's a cartoon? I'm talking about a real live cat. That just walked by. Inside the cottage." Previously there had not been a real live cat inside the cottage that Julia has been aware of.
“Oh, Garfield is totally real!” Fen beamed up at Julia before turning back to her phone. “Although he really is a little on the chunky side. I don’t think he’d take well to a diet though.”
"The cat that just walked by is Garfield? We have a cat?" Julia asked.
“Oh!” Fen realized then that she probably should have let her housemates know. That was the courteous thing to do, wasn’t it? At least outside of Fillory.
Fen hopped up from her seat and went to get ahold of Garfield, hefting up his fluffy body against her as she brought him back into the room. “Julia, meet Garfield! Garfield, this is Julia! Don’t chew on her shoes like you started chewing on mine already!”
"Hi, Garfield," Julia said hesitantly before reaching out to pet the cat. "Don't chew on my shoes, but really don't chew on Margo's shoes."
She pet him a couple more times then turned back to Fen. "When did we get a cat? Where did he come from?"
Fen cringed slightly, before giving her an apologetic smile. “Well… I got him yesterday! I had him in my room the whole day, letting him get acclimated. Was told that was a good idea, so he could eventually figure out what is home. I also got his litter box in my bathroom.
“I probably should have asked for permission first?”
Julia shrugged because she really didn't mind, but she couldn't help looking amused as she asked, "Does Margo know about Garfield yet?"
“Um,” Fen bit her lower lip. “No. But! In my defense, my daggers went missing when I came home and I was really kind of preoccupied with that.” Garfield tried to wriggle free and Fen let him onto the back of the sofa before he plopped off of it and ran off to do more exploring.
Julia laughed. "Well, I hope I can be around when she finds out. He's cute though. Probably does need a diet. Maybe some exercise. Have you seen any of the toys you can get? Like a laser pointer?" Drive the cat mad trying to catch an uncatchable red dot.
“I didn’t!” Fen brightened up thinking of how much she could spoil that little chonk. The person who had helped her adopt Garfield had suggested that it wouldn’t take much to keep them entertained -- just a rolled up sock and a cardboard box. Seemed low maintenance enough but knowing there was more she could buy, she perked up at the idea.
“Wait, what else can we get him? Can we get him little clothes? Maybe something to calm him down before we attempt to put those clothes on him?”
"I don't know that little clothes are going to fit that cat," Julia replied, amused.
Fen tilted her head from side to side. “I mean… true! But we can still put little hats on him and it’ll look even more hilarious than an appropriately-sized hat!”
She glanced over Julia’s shoulder to look at the clock in the living room.
"You're going to go to the store to buy this cat a hat, aren't you?"
Fen raised her eyebrows. “Are you free right now?”
"Yeah, as long as we're not gone too long." Julia agreed. She needed to meet Kady later, but they should have plenty of time to find something ridiculous to put on that ridiculous cat. As long as he didn't hate her afterward.
“Great!” Fen reached over to the sofa cushion she was previously sitting on and pulled out one of the not-vanished sheathed daggers. “I’m ready! Just in case something attacks us.”
Julia shook her head, but Fen wasn't wrong. This was Vallo. Anything could happen.