[center][color=lightgray][h1]Piper[/h1][/color][/center]

[color=lightgray]The human seemed startled, but he didn't start yelling or running away in fear so that was a good sign. Piper cocked his head at him when the human paused. Was he expecting a response? Should he say something? The human had talked to him before but hadn't wanted him to respond then.

Oh. Never mind. The human was talking again. So much babbling. Piper lifted up a hind leg, scratching the back of his ear. Out of everything the human was talking about, the term "girlfriend" stuck out. He paused. Then he kept on scratching. "Girlfriend" was an unfamiliar term. The way he said it made it sound like Cheryl was his mate. Gross. This human really wasn't right in the head. Dragons and humans were two completely different species. He put his foot down and started preening the underside of his right wing.

Once the human stopped talking, his tone indicating some sort of question Piper had missed due to complete disinterest, Piper spat out another plucked feather. Shaking his head to free his mouth of any remaining fluff, he looked back at Jack. Nothing else to do but speak. He could always try invading a food home later, though it might annoy Cheryl.

'[i][b]You talk too much.[/b][/i]' He raised a paw to show the silver coin tucked in his claws. '[i][b]Do you want to trade?[/b][/i]'

It occurred to him afterwards that the human might be more amenable to do so if Piper was polite. And ignoring the human's many words would have been rude. It wasn't Piper's fault. Hunger meant not listening to unimportant words from crazy humans. Still, if he wanted food, he had to make the human happy. He lowered his paw, thinking. What had the human said? Piper had only caught the part about Cheryl being his "girlfriend", which he assumed meant mate, which was still disgusting. Maybe the human had been asking more questions about their supposed courtship?

'[i][b]Cheryl's not my mate.[/b][/i]' He wrinkled his nose. '[i][b]She's human. And too big. Pygmies only mate with other pygmies.[/b][/i]'[/color]