If the cryptid could smile, it would.
It does the next closest thing; it shows its teeth. It has many rows of teeth.
A massive tentacle whips out and knocks Unity 2 feet away per hit point of damage.
Well... nothing for it but to swim for their life now! At least the creature 'kindly' gave them a boost. Unity keep swimming in the direction they just got whacked.
The creature swims up beside Unity and looks at them. It then passes them just a little and looks back. It wants to race.
The creature is leading.
Well... a race was at least less likely to lead to them getting *eaten*, so Unity are perfectly willing to play along.
The cryptid shoots past Unity. It has dozens of trailing white tentacles, many with glistening thin bony hooks hanging out of them. Any creature that got tangled up in those tentacles would be shredded.
Unity sees the entirety of the creature in front of them. It's quite huge.
Well, they already knew they didn't want to fight the thing... not giving their all in this race seemed like a bad idea, so they keep trying, making a mental note to practice swimming more.
The creature continues to leave Unity behind it. It sees that Unity has fallen behind and begins to circle around.
If Unity wants to escape, now is the time.
Given their performance thus far, Unity rather doubt their ability to escape. Given this creature's actions so far, humoring it seems like a better choice... hoping that it will lose interest after playing for a while.
He does aim his swimming a bit upward, though. Maybe it'll keep 'racing' him closer to the surface?
Unity, after falling behind, suddenly shoots upwards. The creature looks for Unity
The creature thinks it might see where Unity went.
Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.
Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.
“Why are you assuming they’re a she? And come to think of it, why am I assuming all of the animal parts are male?”
She catches herself, and says to the men, “You don’t have to answer that. Unity is… unique.” And now she catches that. “I mean, I’m unique too, but Unity’s even more unique. You’ll see—when we find the island, there’ll be a lot of Unity-like… uh… fellas……… no. Wait. When I put it that way, it takes away from the uniqueness.”
Realizing she’s blurting spoilers, which is probably extra-rude when addressing characters is the story, Nissa drops the topic and turns to her friends.
“Yeah, wait, where is Unity? Didn’t they say they’re fishing? Assuming there’s fish.”
“Why are you assuming they’re a she? And come to think of it, why am I assuming all of the animal parts are male?”Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.
"It's the deep, growly voice, I imagine", Theo answers.
Unity aren't trying to hide--they're just 'racing' in a slightly different direction. They do try to get a feel for just what this creature wants.
Henri continues to look for a sign of land or Unity. Or birds or fish, for that matter. He’s thinking to pull the boat while someone rows, but it will help to know which way.