"It Does Sound Nice, And I'm Glad You Liked It. I Don't Think I'm Much Of A Beach Person Myself," She

While tall and wiry, Zahra had never been the athletic or muscular sort. If anything, her height was of the lanky type, all long limbs and sharp edges. Evidently that was not the case with this stranger who seemed to have no problem carrying the mammoth bag. "Just inside, thank you. I need to return them."

The woman looked down at the bag and picked it up with a perfect ease, the weight not at all a bother for the huge woman. Hazel looked down at the bag and then to the smaller woman before her "Sure, so where do you want it?" she asked casually with a little shrug.

Zahra glanced down at her feet, deeply embarrassed by the reality of her situation. "Kind of, if you can call me covering my fridge with the due date receipts a system. It has worked pretty well so far. It’s definitely not aesthetically pleasing in the slightest, but gets the job done.” Zahra wanted to be one of those well-organized Excel and spreadsheet type of people, but so far she hadn’t picked up the needed skillset, nor the motivation.

The rigidness in her voice had dissipated slightly, making her sound less defensive, leaving behind just the very obvious physical and mental exhaustion. Still, she seemed to pick up as Birdie described what she had been up to. “I mean yeah, that’s definitely work, but it at least sounds like you’re mostly enjoying it. That’s good.” Thank god she could already see the book drop and would soon be rid of her shameful cargo. “Have you found anything interesting? Could definitely use some recommendations.” While she had never played an instrument and could not say she was a particularly gifted singer, music had always been one of her dearest hobbies and one of the main reasons why she loved living in the city. "Oh? That sounds exciting."

Birdie didn't buy a word the other said, but she was willing to drop the subject. After all, she found out years and years ago that it was impossible to force any sort of change upon someone else, it was something they had to do themselves. "Right." She continued to make her way into the library with the other, "You must have one hell of an organizing system to make sure you don't catch a bunch of late fees for these things." If she checked out this many books at a time, she was liable to forget a good chunk of them and create a mess for herself in fees.

"Somewhat." She responded to the question. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take my own advice as of late. I've been spending a lot of my off time looking into some of the local bands for some new stuff for the station, which might bring about some fun, but is still technically work." That part was hard to set down with the incredible music scene in the city. "Who knows, maybe I'll go to that Devil's Night coming up at the She Shed for non-work related fun."

"They really should include a portion for late fees on research grants," she mumbled, wondering just how much cash she had funnelled to various library systems. While she would usually consider it money well-spent, her current state of annoyance and frustration made her wish she had done just about anything else with those hundreds of dollars. Still, there were bigger problems in the world and Zahra couldn't help but notice the shift in Ryan's mood. It was evident his work-life balance left something to be desired. "Oh? That bad?" she asked, wincing internally but hoping the look on her face didn't betray her. "Is there anything you can do about it?" She paused for a moment, nose crinkled up in irritation at herself. "I'm sure you've already gone through all your options. Sorry." She remained silent for a moment, not sure she wanted to shift the focus back to herself. "Not really," she admitted after a lengthy pause, "but I'm teaching a class in the fall. I guess that's fun."

—he smiled at the comment a little; turning to her when she responded to his query. “certainly not,” he agreed with a nod —frankly, those were a lot of books to pay any fees. Nodding a little at her response, he could agree. working had been his priority as of late. very wrongfully so. “same…” he muttered; work kept her busy and he was, in fact, keeping busy with work, rushing to complete a set amount of hours each week that were a lot more than his usual shifts, prior to the move. “I have and Neva is not happy about it…” he admitted, laughing a little, but it was a humorless sound. Neva was pissed, not just not happy. they made their way inside and his partner went further in to talk to the manager, while he accompanied Zahra towards the front desk. “have you been working on anything new?” he inquired.

It was clear Zahra was itching to get out of the situation and forget all about it now that her breath had steadied and her arms didn't ache quite as much. He hadn't seem bothered to be helping her but she still felt embarrassed, her cheeks having turned a traitorous shade of red from more than just the physical activity.

"No need", she assured, shaking her head as she stood up hurriedly and pocketed her wallet with the library card in it. "I'll stop by to eat something." Zahra went to straighten her shirt before glancing at the man, managing a brief smile that didn't quite reach her dark eyes. "Thank you again. Uh, it was very nice of you."

Matt looked at the card in his hand and gave her a nod. "Zahra." he stated, slapping the card into his palm once. She didn't give him her name when he introduced himself but it was at least good to know it now. "I'll be right back then."

He smiled politely and picked the bag of books back up into his arms and disappeared further into the library, only to be back a few minutes later with a receipt and bottle of sweet lemonade he found on a vending machine. Matt offered it to her along with the card. "Take this for the road back."

"I get that. I'm kind of doing the same thing," she admitted with an equally uneasy smile that disappeared within seconds. Well, she certainly stressed over work and spent an ungodly amount of time staring at her computer screen. "It'll take a while to figure out what you like doing, especially here. There's so much to do and sometimes that can be a bit overwhelming." She remembered just how spoilt for choice she had felt when she first moved to the city. Zahra had been eager to try absolutely everything to the point where she hadn't known where to start.

"Well, I mean I do like visiting the museums, or art galleries if that's your thing." She shrugged, kicking a pebble along the street as she walked. "There's tons of good live music as well. I tend to take advantage of that. Just depends on what you like."

Matt let out a chuckle at her question, shaking his head and then looking back a her with a mortified look and a shy smile. "Honestly? Work." He chuckled. "That's as far as my plans go right now. I go to work, I come home, eat, sleep. Then work again." He slipped his hands into his pockets and bit the inside of his cheek. He wasn't proud of his routine but he hasn't felt like doing much else for a few months now. Matt carried all alone a baggage way too big for his poor back.

"What do you like to do around the city for fun?" He asked, curiously, not wanting to dampen the mood, so he offered her a kind smile. "Maybe I can learn a thing or two from you."

She simply nodded along for a moment, carefully weighing her next words. Like most people, she had experienced relationship problems in the past, both platonic and romantic, but she had never been in Ryan's position, let alone had any real understanding how Neva felt. It had to be tough for the both of them, and Zahra did not want to cross any boundaries or be one of those people who offered unhelpful advice on something she simply did not understand. "I'm sorry. Sounds rough," she finally commented carefully, "but I'm sure you two will figure it out. It's probably just growing pains and those usually ease with time." Of course that wasn't always the case but Zahra was not about to remind Ryan just how sticky these things could get. She was certain he knew that already. Besides, she had enough on her plate and was in no position to act like she had it all figured out. Her problems were smaller, sure, but had lately felt almost all-consuming. "I'm sure I don't," she admitted with astonishing honesty before shaking her head. "I am excited. It's just... I guess I wish I were more excited. I should be more excited."

—he put the bag on the desk and the librarian looked at him, eyes widening for a moment. “worse,” he admitted, turning back to Zahra, making a face. “it’s my fault,” and then, he turned to her, gently shaking his head, “no, no…” he reassured her with a smile, he appreciated the interest after all. “I haven’t,” he responded in a matter-of-fact tone, laughing a little. there was, essentially, very little he could do until his leave started, and that wasn’t for another more week ( which was also filled with shifts ). “it’s just…man, she is stubborn,” he laughed, “and pregnancy doesn’t help, you know?” he added in a lighter tone; he knew they had kinda talked things over, but still, it didn’t change the fact; he should better learn from that mistake —for future reference. but he was a little glad the topic shifted to her once more as she responded to his question, and he did notice the pause was a little longer than usual, but he didn’t want to ask further. “dare I say you don’t sound that excited?” he was used to Zahra always being willing to share her knowledge when presented the chance, and damn she was smart and so well-versed on her subject, it was kinda weird seeing her being a little…unenthusiastic about it.

I feel like I need to be re-socialised like a feral cat.

"That sounds doable. I guess there's a certain kind of catharsis to reading about someone slightly annoying, especially if they grow out of it." While she didn't seek out irritating book characters, hate-reading could act as a weirdly satisfactory way of distraction. "I think I might have to get it, to check out whether you're right about her being annoying," she admitted with a nod, having made her decision.

She studied the woman briefly before moving on to the next shelf to check out its offerings. Zahra was in no hurry to leave and the peaceful bookshop, having realized flipping through the books kept her mocking thoughts at bay. "I take it you read a lot. I mean, you don't work here, do you?"

maddox nearly laughed at the other's question; one she would ask as well. she looked up at the ceiling as she recalled the beginning of the book. "it's not so much that she's annoying in a painful way. she's just annoying in a 'why are you so pessimistic?' type of way. but the more you get to know her and the more she learns and grows throughout the series, the more you let that annoyance fade," she explained, shrugging on shoulder.

"i'm personally not one to go easy on annoying characters. in fact, the only reason i even continued to read the book was because of how perfect the villain was. so if it makes you feel better, there is so many other things to focus on and it'll be over before you know it," she promised.