Lazy Power (HTTYD x Espinas)

A empathetic giant

Mmph..? I woke from my nap in the peat filled swamp by the sound of trampling and childish complaining, and the soft felling if rippling water splashing against my snout. I was rarely visited, much less by children.

I stood up with a grunt, water falling off of my being while some cat tails, vines and moss still clung to me like barnacles. Was never really bothered by it though. I tried to listen from which direction the voices was coming from and it didnt take long. I trudged through the murk towards the sound, making no effort to hide my presence.

The voice had stopped complaining, and I heard them moving away from me. I didn't change my speed at all. "ACK!" And there's why. There are a lot of hidden vines and snakes to get caught in if your in a hurry. I heard them try to tear through the all-natural snare, whimpering and panicking with every step I made.

Eventually I saw them, and walked over to them. They tried to twist their body to see me, having been caught with their back to me, but were unsuccesful. "Why the rush?" I asked, moving around to look them in the face. Turned out to be a Smothering Smoke breath, don't get them often, much less alone. 

It was a mix of black, purple and small specks of yellow around its eyes, nostrils and mouth. It's wing was quite obviously injured given it was swelling around the shoulder and was somewhat bloody. It was caked in mud and grim as well. "G-get away from me!" It pleaded, releasing weak puffs of smoke, that I just exhaled away with ease. "Quite a long ways away from your colony little buddy?" I asked as I sat down on my haunches, relaxing my wings and letting out a small yawn.

"Wouldn't you like to know?!" It screamed, while I just nodded. I'm curious as to why this one is alone. And how it injured it's wing. "That's why I'm here" I said casually. It calmed down and just looked at me with a confused glare. After a bit of a stare down, it relented and whispered out; "We were ambushed by an Armorwing. It tore the nest to shreds and took out most of my pack. As far as I know, I'm the only survivor"

That explains the bruises. "Understandable. Let me get ya out of here" I said as  I got up and used my horn to cut the vines, catching the Smokebreath in my wing. "What's your name little guy?" I ask him. He looks me in the eyes for a moment, contemplating where he should tell me his name or not. Eventually he lets out a sigh, and I learn his name is Blacklung, a rather fitting name.

I position him on my head, between my horn and my eyes. "So it's just you now? I can't let you go then" I say, slowly turning around and trudging through the murk again. Blacklung pales, and starts squirming again. "What do you mean by that?!"

I sigh and drop him in the murk, watching him struggle to stay above the rapidly sinking peat. He starts squealing until I hook him onto my horn and back to his previous position, now covered head to toe in gunk. "There ya go. I'm taking you to my resting spot, where you will stay with me until you recover. Pray tell, how do you feel about gorging on some toads and newts?"

I can see Blacklung was still processing the demand, so I just switched priorities and started hunting some Amphibians. After a couple minutes, I could the promising scent of some Paratoads and some Poisontoads.

While moving towards them, Blacklung's brani finally catches up and we talk while I walk. "So how long do you think this bruise on my wing will take to heal? 2, maybe 3 days?" I hum in thought, looking at the bruise best I can. He'd be lucky for 2 or 3 weeks considering the color. "Let's not dwell on that. You never answered my question; would you eat a toad or newt?"

He sighed and explained he'd never had some of either. Good timing, since we were now just above them, and know I can hear them scurrying to the surface. "Hold that thought" I whisper, as I lay on my stomach and wait.

It pops out the floor, its back to us. A fatty poisontoad, It's purple rubbery skin reflecting in what little sunlight my swamp gets. I do what I've done thousands of time with these little munchkins. I slowly open my maw, and shovel pounds of dirt and mud into my jaw, the poisontoad not far behind.

I carefully filter the toad from the mud and swallow it. Spitting out the rest of the peat, and moving on. "Ah, never gets old, those ones" I mutter in ecstasy. Blacklung was very much in disagreement with, retching and gagging. "How could you just eat the gross bits with the frog?! That's vile!"

I just ignore him and move to the paratoads. "Stop complaining, your next to feed. I'm gonna give you a heads up, I'll be dangling you myself"

I throw my head, and Blacklung, into the air, catching him in my jaw by side, his wings safely tucked in my mouth, while his head was dangling. He looked at me with a glare, before exhaling some smoke in front of my eye.

"Give me a damn warning! Gods!" He screams, before turning his attention to the mud, lookin for any sign of an emerging frog. After 2 or so minutes, one pokes its head out. A smaller paratoad. I leaned Black lung over the frog, and in a moment he had the panicking amphibian in his jaw. Just one small problem though, I forgot to tell him they do put up a bit of a fight.

A cloud of yellow gas emits from the frog's mouth, enveloping Blacklung and letting the frog escape his captior's mouth. Without missing a beat, I impale the frog with one of my wing spikes and wait till Blacklung stops spasming. When he settles, I move the carcass to his mouth. 

With a bit of wordless hesitation, he bites into the frog's side, and frowns. "Ih's sho chewwy!" I chuckle and put him on the less spicky part of my tail, allowing me to speak again. "You get used to it"

After that, we walked home, passing by the neighbor's cave, a raincuter name Wormguts. Been a while since I've visited him, I should probably do that some time.

Eventually I came across my nest, the coiled vines hugging the logs and the hardened mud snuggly in the shape of an oval. The Mangrove apples from a nearby tree were nearly ripe for picking, and the shallow pond was still filling with cattails.

Knowing how shallow the peat was here, I shake Blacklung off my back and lay on my bed. "Welcome to my little abode, make yourself at home. *deep tired breath* I just remembered, I've never told you my name have I?"

Blacklung slowly crawls into the nest with me, laying between my wing and my shoulder. I heard him tiredly ask what it was, and I just mumbled only half my name before I felt sweet sleep claim my being.

"My name ish Crooooowwnnnnnnn--- *SNORE*"