The double storm grating above was in perfect position. From about ten am each morning until about one pm save for over cast days the sun flooded a nearly fourteen foot long, five foot across patch of light that seemed to heat the patch of concrete beneath.
It was his favorite place, he came here nearly every day that was not winter or overcast, to bask. The crate itself was situated between two buildings and the causeway was not a popular foot traffic space so as long as he laid still in the light it was unlikely he would be seen. In fact many a time it was he had lain here hearing the occasional bike or feet go by without yet there being any hint anyone looked hard enough through the crating and the glare of sunlit off he still bright metal parts to see his massive form lying there.
Here thoughts of things he was working on in his hidden den and plans to go and raid a junk yard and do a little man hole peeking to see if anything useful left in dark dank alleys and back streets could be grabbed without him being spotted and his first morning morning meal in three days - a skinny stray dog that had been too close to a storm exit drain could not have been further from his thoughts.
Still dripping from the morning swim through storm water tunnels to ensure his patch of tunnels had not been encroached on by human or other mutants that he knew were down here even if he had not yet met them, LeatherHead carefully inspects the tunnel, nothing new, no new scent and the crates did not look like they had been moved. And so assured the space was clear and careful to face towards the exit encase he had to make a discreet and fast exit he lies on his soft yellowish white belly scales slightly curling his tail and maw (wide open) in so he was entirely In the patch of sun.
Being a mutated alligator LeatherHead was not entirely Ectothermic as his wild cousins and did not require the sun to help regulate body temperature and allow for greater digestion, and he was more than sufficiently self taught as a engineer to be able to build his own solar lamps... And living in the New York Sewer system required a few hours of basking as a preventative measure against some variants of bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infection - even for a crocodilians like himself whose body and blood were naturally strong against such things.
Also whilst he could still fit in the sun light here the real thing simply felt so freaking good! Soaking up the bone strengthening vitamin d!
