Crowleigh
Legacy Name: Crowleigh

***

Most of the time he liked to hang out alone. When he wasn't training himself or his Gupuppy, he liked to sit back and let some music wash over him, or take a nice swim.

He hadn't been particularly looking for a home, a home had simply found him. He'd been taking in some sun on the riverbed when a shadow fell over him, and he heard a girl say, "Aren't you going to suffocate and die?"

"A Torrent isn't just any old fish, dear," he said. He opened up his eyes. "Do you mind?"

She stood still baffled for a moment, then stepped slightly to the left.

Crowleigh beamed. "Thank you kindly." He nestled his head back and felt the rays.

"You the only Torrent in these parts?" asked the girl, settling down beside him.

While Crowleigh really preferred his me time, he also couldn't be quite bothered to shoo away company, unless they were a drain on his energy by having too much of their own--Betelgeuse was the only one he could stand in that department. "Hardly," he answered. "In fact, sometimes it gets a bit crowded--but I make due."

"How'd you like to have your very own pond?"

Crowleigh rolled over and propped himself up on his fins. "...what's in it for you?"

Red only shrugged. "I like fish," she said. "And I miss my old one."

Sliding back into the water, Crowleigh said, "Then I've got good news for you, honey!" He hoisted Betelgeuse out of the water, who yipped. "I'm a twofer!"

*

Out of all his housemates, Crowleigh preferred Ferrian. He was pretty chill, though he could be a downer sometimes. When he got into a talkative mood, which was admittedly rare, Crowleigh would gladly lay back and listen to the old Montre's tales of places he had wandered.

Winkii? Well, she was alright in her own way. Sometimes she would babble on and on about silly things, nothing like Ferrian's rare and precious stories, and it got awfully tiresome. And Crowleigh, he wasn't afraid to tell Winkii she was being dreadfully tiresome, which would make the Kumos fuss and pout and run off to Red crying that he'd been "rude" to her. "It's called honesty!" said Crowleigh. "That's all!"

And then there was little miss Norman. Well, wasn't she a peach? She made an awful fuss, all emotional. It wasn't that Crowleigh wasn't sympathetic to her plight, it was simply that her anguish was so draining and stressful, and Crowleigh was never one for stress.

Ultimately he turned out to be right to be put off by her anyway.

*

One Sunday after he first joined the household, Normyn strode up to Crowleigh's pond, where he was teaching Betelgeuse some flips. "Hey there, doll," he said. "Come to watch the show?"

"No," Normyn said. "No, that's quite alright." But she took a seat on the pond's edge just the same, lingered there a moment. Then she said, "So you're really planning on staying, hm?"

Crowleigh tossed a treat in the air and watched Betelgeuse jump for it. "Yeah, pretty sure," he said. "I wasn't at first, but it's awful nice here... so I think I will stay."

Normyn let out a sigh. "Well, that's a shame," she said. "Because I really meant to make use of this pond."

"You can still use it." Crowleigh shrugged his fins and pet his minion. "I don't care."

"Actually," said Normyn, "I really can't with you in it." There was an audible click. Crowleigh turned to see Normyn wielding a six-shooter. "I'm sorry you had to get dragged into this," she said, "but I'm afraid you're going to have a terrible run in with the man who's trying to kill me."

Crowleigh eyed the gun for a second. He rolled his eyes. "Oh please," he said. He dove under the water, swam up to the shore, then leapt up and slapped the weapon from her paws with his tail. Landing before her, nose to nose, he said, "You want to fight me for this? Then let's do it fair and even."

Normyn unsheathed her claws and laughed in his face. "Fair? This fight could never be fair! You're just a fish! What could a fish do."

And as she swept her paw to claw his face open, Crowleigh rolled back and coiled his tail around her waist. "How about this?" And he flung her up into the air, letting her land in the water at the far side of the pond.

She surfaced, coughing and sputtering, and swam to shore. "Cretin!" she snarled. "I'll have you filleted for this!"

"You and what army?" Crowleigh laughed.

Shaking herself off, Normyn leveled her eyes on him, narrow and dark. "You'll see," she said. "In the meantime, stay out of my way. If you so much as--"

"Yeah, yeah," said Crowleigh, waving a fin. "Save your threats. I won't tell anybody you're dirty, rotten and evil."

The corner of Normyn's lip twitched up. "Oh yeah?" she said. "And why's that?"

Crowleigh rested on a rock and grinned. "I can't wait to see that army of yours."

***

I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
The future is coming on