Io took a deep breath in, closing her eyes and enjoying the scent of her hosts cooking. Even with all the places she had journeyed, even after having dined on the finest cuisine, her favorite foods were to be found in the kitchens of the humble commoners. Perhaps it was a faint memory of some distant family meal, or the sentiment of a hard working person putting aside time to give a weary traveler a warm meal-whatever it was, it warmed her heart. This particular farmer had three beautiful children, two boys and a girl, and a wife. He was rather elderly, and worn from all the years, but he still insisted she stay the night. It wasn't often she was allowed to stay in a house, but it was a welcome change. At the moment she sat on the rooftop, overlooking the forest and the city. She had travelled here to explore the forest, though a few of the shoppers she had met in the city had warned her of dangers, Io didn't mind. Looking at it now, illuminated by the soft glow of the setting sun, her eyes were sparkling with curiosity and wonder. A new place to search, to look in every crevice, to inspire her. She sketched gently on parchment the forest, mindlessly writing notes of her journey here on the back, taking time to make sure she mentioned the elderly farmer and his family. Once she was done she placed it into her satchel to be kept with the disorganized array of other papers, containing her previous journeys. Just as she was about to return to gazing at the bamboo, and return to contemplating what must be hidden inside, she heard the sound of the dinner bell, and scampered down, just as the children did, eager to have her meal. 

The next morning, giving her farewell to the family, she headed back into the city. As much as she dreaded heavily populated areas she knew she still needed to gather a few items before she could begin her excursion. It was early in the morning, with the shopkeepers just beginning to turn their signs and open their doors, all with sleepy eyes and tired shuffles. Io, however, had a smile on her face- she loved the shades of pink and orange the sunrise turned the city, and that there were few people to bother her. She grinned even wider at passing the pet store, seeing that some of the animals had gotten out of their cages. She disliked the idea of holding creatures captive, and was about to laugh when she felt a sudden impact and fell to the ground with a thud, she looked up to realize she had walked straight into someone…

((OOC:I forgot to mention that I would love for Io to have a partner to travel with, or at least explore this particular location with))

Cities were not his natural habitat, nor something he even particularly enjoyed. There were benefits to be had, lots of food, but for some reason you had to give people shiny stuff in order to get said food… He didn't like that part of it. There were plenty of people who gave him food for free though! Or they asked him to do something so simple as 'walk with me to this place' and then they'd give him food, or other things he wanted. Today someone had 'hired' him to pull their cart into town, normally it was led by several horses but they had jury rigged a harness onto him… The horses hadn't wanted to cooperate next to the big blue creature, so they had been removed entirely. Eventually they got to where they wanted to go and he'd been set loose, and now he just had to figure out how to get back… Out of here… He decided the place couldn't be /that/ big, so walking in any direction should work to get out.

…An hour or two later he walked by a pet shop he knew he had seen before, his presence seemed to greatly disturb a number of the animals. A few of the cages that held the normally docile creatures got broken as they attempted to flee from the dragon who… Was only drooling a little bit as he watched them. While distracted, he didn't notice that someone was walking towards him (for some reason they usually went around). The bump was hardly noticeable, touch-wise, but his head whipped about to stare down at the creature that had walked into his leg. He had to fight back the urge to snap at the offending object, since sometimes his instincts to catch prey worked slightly faster than his mind did. Thankfully, while within a city he tried to spend that extra half-second looking at things before attempting to eat them, it saved a lot of head aches in the long run.

A human? The wind whipped about between them as he took a few hearty sniffs, he didn't smell any blood… "Are you okay?" came a surprisingly… Innocent sounding voice, it didn't seem to entirely match the imposing form that it belonged to. Though, there were other clues that perhaps he hadn't entirely grown into a full-fledged monstrosity, such as slightly large eyes, and a lack of scars; Not that either these traits were concrete proof without knowing what his species normally looked like.

Her blue eyes widened in awe as she had to tilt her head quite a bit back to get a full view of the stark blue creature she had collided with-or rather whose leg she had collided with. She knew of dragons, and had seen some in the distance, or flying over head, but she had never been quite so close to one before. She very well knew they were sentient beings, with emotions and minds similar if not superior to humanoid species, but their animalistic qualities still caused her to stop in awe. She closed her eyes as she felt the wind from his sniffing, and laughed softly, amused at the sensation and ignoring the mess it made of her already naturally frizzy hair. She smiled warmly and reassuring at the beast, admiring the large gold eyes that peered at her with what seemed to be concern. His voice was sweet sounding, unlike the deep throaty roars she associated with the species, but then again she didn't know enough to judge how he fell as compared to his brethren.

Io lifted herself up off the ground and dusted herself off, unable to stop staring at the blue thing before her. It took quite a bit of willpower for her not to reach out and touch his, or at least it seemed to be a he, snout, or to immediately begin sketching the form of his wings. This was something to be documented. But she knew it would be odd, and just a bit rude, and so she settled for committing his every feature and contour to her memory to be put on paper later. Then it occurred to her- dragons typically don't spend time in the city, save for when they have business with humans. By the looks of this one, he was too sweet to be intimidating humans into giving him gold, or other nefarious occupations. "Say, are you heading towards the forest? I would really appreciate a companion just to get me there," she reached into her satchel, pulling out a few coins and a small cake the farmer had given her for the trip. "I can pay you if you'd like," she reached out her hand, expecting him to either turn down the small amount of gold or to snatch it up quickly as most did. 

He was taken slightly aback when she laughed, not that he was offended or anything but that was… A strange reaction, probably, he didn't really know enough about humans to tell for sure. His head lifted out of the way as she got up, and he took a half step backwards. He didn't seem to need to worry about running into people, as there was a somewhat ovoid shape that seemed to deflect those that might get too close. It wasn't a magical ability or anything, but people were smart enough not to stand where they might get accidentally taken out by a tail twitch or wing movement… Which was probably part of the reason he hadn't noticed her before the collision.

There was a moment where he wondered if she could speak, or maybe she was afrai- oh, she could speak and that didn't sound like terror… Or smell like it. Maybe she was crazy, or brave, or both. She was probably the only person that had really thought of him as too cute to be intimidating, though to be fair she hadn't seen him hunting. "I like the forest…" He perked his ears up when she reached into her pack, and even more so when it was mentioned that she could pay him, that was usually what people said before giving him things, and this appeared to be one of those cases. He stared at the coins for a moment, before picking them up, examining them, and then carefully stashed them under one of the larger scales on his back. She might be a little surprised when his tongue 'expertly' attempted to snatch the cake out of her hand, probably depositing a decent amount of drool over that arm if she wasn't quick.

"Hokay, uhmn… You might be too squishy to ride." he commented as he glanced at his back for a moment, flexing the large and slightly sharp-looking scales there. It wasn't so bad when they were all lying flat, as they were at the moment, but there was no saddle or reigns or whatnot… Which also might present a problem in mounting said dragon, it'd take an experienced rider, or a somewhat foolish person to attempt to ride him without some sort of assistance. Whether it was just a blanket and some ropes, or something more complex, otherwise it would probably not be a terribly pleasant experience. "…You can lead." He offered so graciously, although it did sound a little bit like he had no idea which way to go… Had he been lost much longer he probably would have just decided to fly out, even if that tended to annoy people who got dust and debris blasted onto them from the streets. He couldn't fly out if he was with someone though, unless he carried them… Which didn't he didn't have the best track record of.

She noticed that he examined her right back as she looked at him, but with a bit more confusion than scientific curiosity. Perhaps this was a new experience for both of them. She noticed the way his ears moved and smiled, intrigued by all the gestures, taking note of his mannerisms. He seemed young, at least in spirit, a bit unexperienced. The dragons she had read about held themselves high and with an almost disdainful dignity. This beast before her seemed quite the- once again her thoughts were interrupted, but this time by a sudden and unpleasant slimy sensation on her palm and forearm. She looked down to see all the coins and cake gone, and a thick coat of saliva in their place. She smiled sheepishly, a bit grossed out, but Io wasn't one to squeal or squirm, and so she shook her arm out and managed to get most of the dribble off. 

Listening to his remarks about her "squishiness" she realized the dragon had a point- she couldn't ride him; she had only ever ridden a small horse, and that had been an awkward ride, so hopping onto the back of a large scaly chunk of meat with wings would likely go even worse. She nodded and began to walk, leading him down the widest streets she could find and avoiding the places she knew might be awkward to navigate, like the crowded plaza. "I'm Io by the way, it's a um, pleasure," she smiled, looking up at her new companion. The sun had risen above the city walls, so it must have been at least 8, a good time to start. "Have you been in this forest before?" she took out a piece of parchment and a small snub of charcoal to write down anything that might come in handy while she was in there, specifically dangerous creatures- then again, he probably wasn't too worried about anything trying to attack him with his size and over-bearing demeanor. She gently signaled for him to turn to the right to find the gates, and smiled as she could see the forest off in the distance, an overwhelming sense of excitement beginning to bubble inside her, like a child going to bed on the eve of a holiday, but she returned her focus to the dragon who walked beside her, trying her best not to be rude and allow her mind to wander as it so often did.

The dragon was probably an interesting creature to study, though any such discoveries might not be so useful when one attempted to apply them to other more regal draconic creatures. At least it was pretty easy to read his emotions when he was more or less relaxed, and many of his emotive responses were similar to humans, or animals that were regularly dealt with. There was more behind that fact than one might think though, as in reality he actually more or less learned how to socialize from such creatures. If he spent enough time around horses one could probably expect him to start acting a little bit like one, but so far it had been mostly humans, dogs, cats, wolves and such… With some draconic urges and instincts thrown in.

If she could read his thoughts though, she might have been worried when he mentally noted how she tasted. Not only for the possibility of tracking her or identification, but as potential food-value. He had such thoughts about more or less everyone though, regardless of whether he intended to eat them.

"My name's Thalron." He responded more or less automatically, then seemed to space out as the walked. He glanced about some, but seemed most intent on their destination than the things around them, still the animistic part of him meant that he felt the urge to keep some track of potential threats… Not that he saw many. When she asked him if he'd been through the forest he actually looked down at her and nodded. "I was hunting in it for awhile before I came here, and I flew over it a few times… The trees taste better here than other places too." That seemed like the extent of his explanation- though if she were to ask what he hunted she'd get a pretty good description of many things that were out there. It seemed like he didn't know many of the names though, and called any deer-like creatures deer, any canines would randomly be called wolves or dogs, and every type of cat was a kitty, and so on. With every description he'd also comment about how they tasted, though so far he had yet to find anything that he'd say tasted bad.

It didn't seem like her mind wandering would be much of a problem though, as his own wandered whenever he was no longer actively doing something. Randomly his vision would fixate on birds, or fast moving things, or he'd just stare off into space ahead of them… When he spotted the gates though he picked up the pace a bit, she'd have to run to keep up with him, but even if she didn't he'd stop occasionally to let her catch up or catch her breath.