Lost in the Sewer

She was here again! What was she doing here? How had she found him? Was she seeking him? Was she here to capture him? Was she some kind of hunter after all? He drew his lips back in a snarl, rearing back as much as the limited space would let him.

She had helped him before. She had freed him from his own negligence. Would she turn on him after showing him kindness? He hesitated, watching her. Sometimes, people lowered resistance by offering something kind at the beginning. But this human. She had been scared when she helped him. She smelled scared even now, yet she was here. She was here, and he did owe her.

He lowered his head a little, watching her suspiciously, but he stopped growling. What did she want here? He stayed tensed, ready to run or fight if needed, but waiting to see what she would do.
 
Jess stood there for long enough that it occurred to her to wonder how long she had actually been standing there, then blink and try to recover some sense of... what? sanity? normalcy? reality? Maybe any of those things, she wasn't exactly sure. Everything that she was being presented with just didn't fit into any of the notions she had managed to conceive while she'd been staring at that scale over the last few days.

It was looking at her. It had growled at first, but it hadn't knocked her down this time, and now it was just standing there, watching her - warily? Jess thought maybe it was warily, but it wasn't like she could really tell what this creature's expressions meant. Pet people were like that sometimes - not people with pets, but Pet People, who were a different breed entirely. He looks like he's thinking really hard about something! No, ma'am, he does not - he looks like a dog.

Well. Whatever this creature was thinking, Jess had no idea. She hadn't expected it to have any more intelligence than a dog, to be honest, most of which were not particularly bright - but the satchels, the sense of collecting, of... organization? You didn't get that with dogs.

"Okay..." Okay? Jess wasn't sure if it was okay or not, but it was okay that she wasn't getting bitten, so she was going to stick with it for now. "Um. Hi. Again." Now she was talking to it. She really was an idiot.

Jess made herself back down before she started telling it her life story out of sheer nerves, thinking about what she actually could do, and resolving with giving it a slow sort of blink, like people did with cats. Apparently it was supposed to put them at ease. Did that work on whatever-this-was? She had no idea. Maybe a better idea: She reached slowly into her pocket, pulling out the scale she carried.

"Here. I think this is yours." Would it recognize it as part of itself? Jess moved forward, slowly, keeping herself low to the ground a little, and set the scale down on the ground a couple meters from the creature, then backed away a few paces, waiting to see what it would do.
 
He tipped his head slightly to look at her more directly. She was possibly more flustered than he was. Possibly. She stood fidgeting and looking from his face to the little satchels along his spines. Was it really that strange to see a- Yes, actually, yes, everything about this was strange. She was a small human in the sewer, which was a good start at the strangeness, and she had come face-to-face with him. He was a dragon living in a sewer and collecting things in little bags he hung from his spinal crest. There was absolutely nothing about this scenario that did not fall in the strange category.

"Okay..."

Brilliant start. Excellent conversational start. Where was he supposed to go with that? Not that he actually knew how to go about responding to her even if she had the most titilating of discourse.

"Here, I think this is yours."

What was his? Oh. A scale." He looked down at it curiously, and then at the woman. Yes, that was his scale. What did she expect him to do with it? That was... kind... of her to try to return it to him, but once a scale was dropped, that was it. Maybe she wanted to barter with it. No, she wouldn't have thought he could or would trade. She must be trying to show she was friendly. That was the only conclusion he could think of. The question was: what did he do now?

He couldn't let her know just how intelligent he was. He couldn't alert her to all of his secrets. That was dangerous. Let her continue to think he was nothing but a dumb beast. That was safer.

After a moment of thought, he turned his head - still keeping an eye on her - and shuffled through his satchels. He found what he was looking for and used two claws to delicately pull it out. He was not the most dexterous of creatures with his claws, but he managed. He set the item on the ground next to the scale: a pair of black sunglasses.
 
It didn't seem to want the scale. It also... put down some sunglasses? Jess was just as confused about what to do with them as the creature seemed to be about her own offering. She did, however, make note of its dexterity in fishing them out of the bag. It had known where to look, too, known which bag it wanted even if it hadn't taken its eyes off of her.

"Cool." Far out, dude. Jess doubted the creature knew a whole lot about dead slang. For that matter, Jess didn't know a whole lot about it, either, other than what got bandied around at work sometimes. Although... these days, she was more up on her dead slang than on the current iterations.

Well, she had to have something that would interest it, didn't she? Jess rifled through her backpack again a little bit, pulling out a sandwich in a cheap tupperware, opening the lid of the container and setting that down next to the sunglasses. Did whatever-it-was eat turkey sandwiches? There wasn't much else on there besides lettuce. She doubted it ate lettuce, but how did it feel about rye bread? Maybe it was an omnivore. Maybe it was on a gluten-free diet for all she knew.

Carefully, Jess tore off a little corner and ate it, in case the creature was the imitative sort. She wondered if she ought to put on the sunglasses, but it was dark enough down here already, and whatever this creature did next... well, she wanted to see it.
 
She had no idea what the sunglasses were for. Black and shiny for black and shiny, a trade or a match. Whichever way she prefered to look at it, but she hadn't caught the intent. That amused him. Amuse? The amusement shocked him almost as much as the appearance this human. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been amused like this. Amusement did not come easily down here. He almost didn't recognize the emotion.

He was so lost in his own thoughts he almost didn't notice her movement. Almost. He watched her closely as she pulled something out. A small container. She opened the lid, and his nose twitched. Fresh ingredients. Turkey, maybe? Possibly? With bread? What was that for? Was she hungry and eating that here and now? No, she set it down and tore off a bit to eat. This was... an offering? To him? And she was showing him it was safe?

No. He would not take it. This was a trap! It had to be! Didn't it? He couldn't stop his nose from twitching. His muzzle inched forward a little, drawn by the scent. He forced himself back, flicking his tail a little to keep it out of his way as he backed up one step at a time.
 
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