"I've never been this close to one," he says to the newcomer, bringing one hand up to stroke the cat - the cat stops to enjoy this, arching under his hand before nosing at his face again. "They're friendlier than I thought." Beat, and he adds, half-serious, "And have more tails."

And then it decides it's done with Connor's face and climbs off the table entirely onto his lap, where it starts to knead at his leg with its front paws in a very determined fashion. Connor frowns down at it for a moment.

"My name's Connor, by the way," he says, looking back up. "This was supposed to be a networking event, right?"

Not a 'pet cats and be confused about it' event.