[center][color=lightgray][h1]PIPER[/h1][/color][color=mediumseagreen][b]& CHERYL LUSBY[/b][/color][/center]

[color=lightgray]"[/color][b]My world.[/b][color=lightgray]" That was what the human said. [i]Was[/i] he human? He smelled, looked, and acted the part. But that didn't mean he wasn't otherworldly. Piper knew the stories revolving around Antarean dragons - they were supposedly from space, arriving on Terra after a giant rock had fallen from the sky. Those were the stories that humans told, however, and Piper hadn't actually met one himself so he had tucked the information away for a time when it could become relevant.

He didn't have a reason to disbelieve the human. His strangeness seemed to agree with what he said. He was out of his depth, out of place, and he certainly didn't belong. Coming from another world wouldn't be the craziest thing Piper heard.

At the mention of food, Piper's attention jumped to 100%. He leapt into the air with a few clicking sounds, looping the human once before hovering before him.

'[i][b]Yes![/b][/i]'

The walk - or flight, in Piper's case - to the smelly food home was uneventful. In that short time, there was nothing more he wanted to do than to settle on someone's shoulder and let them do the walking for him. He'd flown for three days from Ferlois to Sonarlis, then flown back in two days, without stopping, to pass Elena's message. Cheryl had taken four days to get here on horseback and he'd been riding on her shoulders since. He could fly now, but doing so for an extended period made his wings ache. Especially when he was flying for something as mundane as walking to a food home when the human's shoulders were perfectly empty! 

If there was anything he could be embarrassed about though, it was this. What was a messenger dragon who couldn't fly? So he followed the human, lagging slightly behind. Annoyance twitched through him with every flap of his wings.

Words could never describe the relief he felt when he landed on the long table with the scared old man. So he chirruped instead, earning a flinch from the old man. Disgust reeked from the few other patrons in the room. He ignored them. Human opinion on his species was something he'd become desensitised to long ago.

His wings now folded in place, he looked up at the human, who was looking expectantly back at him. He glanced at the old human, who took a step back.

'[/color][b]Don't you-[/b][color=lightgray]' hissed the old human, before cutting himself off. He licked his cracked lips, eyes darting nervously to the strange human. The urge to finish his sentence seemed to clash with his fear of the strange human and Piper watched as the old man clammed up, flustered. How curious. Humans seemed braver when Cheryl wasn't around. He was hardly ever apart from Cheryl, except for when he was working - it had always intrigued him how people stopped keeping their distance when she wasn't there. They acted as if they could actually hurt him.

He turned back to the strange human.

'[b][i]Tell him meat. Any kind will do.[/i][/b]'[/color]

[hr]
[color=mediumseagreen]Cheryl may have been tired, but she hadn't survived 23 years to fall prey to something like this.

The second she'd sensed movement, she'd bolted upright, hand darting to her belt. Moments later, she would curse herself for falling into habit, for acting before properly assessing the situation. The figure that stood before her could not have been human. Not with that height and not with that much mana surrounding it. Not unless it was a flaming mage messing around with their fancy bullshit and for flame's sake, did they have to pick her for their little flame around?

'[b]You lost?[/b]' she said, a terse edge to her voice. She was in a crouch, one hand braced against the wall behind her. Mentally, she berated herself for the fool mistake she'd made.

Pointed towards the cloaked figure, her other hand gripped a knife when it should've been wielding a mana shard.[/color]