Creature

Well, Blenny already has an antagonist ic friendship with Krait...
And she is a Plague Primal...

I'm thinking that she-who-is-currently-named-'Creature';
a) doesn't care whether her food is sentient or not, and cannibalism isn't off the table either.
and/or b) she favors incredibly toxic prey.

She probably hunts Maren primarily, but she could've tried to take a bite out of Blenny.

If we're actually paying attention to ages, then Creature could be this feral little foundling of Blenny and Krait.
I don't exactly headcanon Krait as a paternal type. If a hatchling takes a bite out of him then he'd give them a smack down. Wouldn't aim to kill though.




Yeah, that's one possibility.

Blenny isn't adept at defending himself from ocean predators?
If we went the 'they meet as adults' then I would've said that she tried to make a meal of Blenby, but he proved himself to be too much trouble. So they sometimes end up hanging out near each other, warily side-eyeing all the while.

But if that could work with Krait just as well. It could be that part of Krait and Blenny's friendship is: yes, Krait harasses Blenny while he's fishing, but he also keeps the karking insane Creature from trying to EAT Blenny.
Should probably do that. Krait's already lvl.20 and everything.
.... actually, that Creature is trying to hunt Krait, who is both incredibly toxic yet difficult to catch by surprise because EYES is actually brilliant.
That way Blenny still gets to think of Creature as cute, because she's not trying to eat him?

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So Krait was the one who fist encountered smol, feral Creature, and smacked the vicious hatchling for biting him. She hissed and swam off, but he keeps seeing her around.
Blenny hears a lot about this tiny little Bog giving Krait grief, and thinks it's the funniest thing. That Krait is exaggerating the hatchlings 'evilness'. Unlike Blenny, Krait is not known for being community oriented.

When Blenny finally encounters Creature, she's a bit older and tearing apart a Maren hunter. they were hunting Creature, Creature liked having food come to her It isn't until Krait has to actually drive off Creature that Blenny starts to wonder if his friend wasn't exaggerating after all.





Only once did Creature try to eat Blenny.
She barely survived Krait's protective rage.
Blenny got a scar, and Creature understood that she could hunt Krait as much as she pleased, but Blenny was Off Limits. much to Krait's exasperation
By the time Creature is grown, she both respects Krait as a fellow predator, and considers him her favorite prey- trying to catch Krait has done wonders for Creature's skill.




Consider the following:
Krait forced Creature to understand that Blenny Isn't Prey, but Blenny never establishes himself as a Predator either. So the Unforeseen Side Effect is that Creature is confusedcurious about Blenny, and takes to shadowing him around sometimes. which gives both Blenny and Krait heart attacks, at least at first, since Blenny has no idea how long Creature was stalking him
So there are times when Blenny is being followed around by a feral, adolescent Bogsneak who is kinda cute until she lunges at Krait.
There are several instances of Krait driving young Creature away from Blenny, until Creature starts doing the same thing. She'll find Blenny first, and then attempt to drive Krait off when he shows up.




Of course, Krait beats Creature down hard, but eventually she learns to stop Challenging Krait when it comes to being around Blenny, so she's just hissing at Krait but not actively trying to kill him- which is weird, but at least she's in the open so Krait can keep all of his eyes on her?
It isn't until Creature repeats the behavior with no Krait in sight, and actually drives off the [dangerous sea predator], that Blenny realizes that this smol, evil Bogsneak is now territorial over him.

Reason for this being: Creature learned how to fighthuntsurvive by watching and fighting Krait, and emulating him. Which is how she ends up also protecting Blenny, because that's what Krait does.




Okay, but the funny thing is, that Blenny seems the type who'd show her how to catch certain types of fish, or where to check for tasty delicacies. Heck, Blenny probably showed Creature fauna/flora that have medicinal purposes.




Which gives Creature a false context for Krait's protectiveness of Blenny, but it's one that makes sense to Creature.
Creature's updated categories for fauna are: Prey, Predator, and Blenny.
Blenny is both relieved that Creature is no longer trying to eat him, and kinda amused that Krait's Bane likes him. Krait is furious, but Blenny has grown fond of the damn pup.




Blenny eventually learns that the fastest way to shut Krait up when he's ranting about That Little Hellspawn is to point out that Krait is the one who hasn't killed Creature yet. Krait is an arse, and he's never been swayed by hatchlings, but outside of the time Creature tried to eat Blenny, Krait never tried to kill her. Krait never allowed himself to wonder why.




The day they realize that, however..... :3




I'm thinking it's they day they're talking about Creature around some other derg. which is uncommon, because they don't exactly meetup anywhere crowded




Krait is ranting about Creature, again, and Blenny is amused and arguing with Krait because that's what they do, and the poor, ignorant-but-kindly [shopkeep?] mentions that her daughter was a handful too.
Remember how Blenny didn't believe Creature was That Bad until he met her?
Yeah.
Everyone is going to believe that Krait is one of those 'embarrassed to express kindness so he buries it under an abrasive attitude' and Blenny decides that this is the Best Prank Ever and perpetuates that belief with some ambiguously worded comments. So Krait has no idea that his reputation is improving and Blenny is having the time of his life.




Even more ambiguous than that, because Blenny doesn't want Krait to realize exactly what Blenny's clan seems to think of the Creature Situation. Because this is a prank that gets funnier the longer it's undiscovered.

So if they were out doing their normal thing, yeah, Blenny would be all, "Aww, she just loves you!"
But around Blenny's clan? It would be more like, "Well, you know how she imitates you." Just neutral enough that it doesn't immediately send Krait ranting about the Hellspawn, though Blenny will get a confused look at the perceived lack of trolling, while to an outsider it just sounds like their daughter admires Krait and he should maybe set a better example for her.




And it works for two reason: 1) because when Krait gets worked up about Creature, he tends to tunnel vision, and 2) Krait doesn't spend much time near Blenny's clanmates, so while Blenny's change in behavior is odd, Krait can brush it off when he notices as a Clan Thing.

Krait

Blenny

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