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

[color=lightgray]Unexpected. Truly unexpected. Piper stared at the stranger as he practically barked at the old human, causing any courage he might have had to display distaste towards Piper to vanish entirely. As the old human bumbled around with their requests, Piper considered the feeling that was welling up in his chest. Happiness? Affection?

Appreciation.

Even Cheryl hadn't done anything of that sort for him before. When the old human returned with the food, Piper was treated with another display of that same hostile defensiveness. He risked a glance at the old human as the stranger collected the food. The old human looked away the second their eyes met, fixing his gaze towards the food making place.

'[/color][b]Pick a table for us?[/b][color=lightgray]' There was nothing but gentle kindness in the stranger's voice. Piper blinked at him, as he had done when the stranger had winked at him, before leaping to the table closest to the long table. He jumped to another table, then another, and so on, using his wings to glide if the distance was longer than jumping could manage. Finally, he settled on a table closest to the hearth, three chairs scattered a little haphazardly around it. He waited till the stranger was close enough before he said anything.

'[i][b]That was...thoughtful. Of you.[/b][/i]' Piper played with the coin in his paws as he sat on his hind legs. His tail curled up around him. '[i][b]Thank you.[/b][/i]' He put the coin down, then paced along the side of the table closest to the hearth. He sat down again, looking up at the stranger.

'[i][b]Why? Nobody's ever done that before. Dragon or human.[/b][/i]'[/color]

[hr]
[color=mediumseagreen]Cheryl dropped the knife with a curse, shaking her hand. It hit the mattress with a quiet thump, sizzling against the material. She glared up at the cloaked figure.

'[b]The outworlder? Who-[/b]' She stopped short, her mind flashing back to the stranger she'd bumped into at the tavern. The crazy guy with untempered magic. '[i]I should've known he'd bring nothing but trouble.[/i]'

It felt as if she was watching a horse collision - her exhaustion completely threw caution out the window. As a result, Cheryl disregarded the warning in the cloaked figure's last statement.

'[b]If you're talking about Mr I-Break-Glass-and-Explode-Fire at the tavern, no. I only take jobs I can handle.[/b]' 

Alright, that hadn't been what she'd meant to say - she'd [i]never[/i] have admitted something like that in her right mind - but it was the truth. Nutjob mages were not on her daily kill list. Plus she had about a meat ton of other things to worry about - like the fact that if Mum's death was planned, there was a chance she was next. Or that all her coins on her person were all she had left of her savings. Or that she was so damn tired, she could hardly give a shit about handling a weirdo prone to magical tantrums and wanted by mysterious cloaked figures. Especially when said mysterious cloaked figures didn't have the courtesy to wait till day or something to ask her. 

'[b]If your master's so powerful, why doesn't he do it himself?[/b]'[/color]