First Contact
is the boat Alive!? If it is, we may not have as much of an advantage speed-wise as we may think.
That seems unlikely. But deciding to be cautious, you circle around the boat and examine it. Unusually, its hull seems to be painted almost completely white, with no wood visible at all. Also strange, it's clearly moving
forward despite the sail being tied to the mast. And the growling seems to be coming from the water itself at the back of the boat, yet you see no creature that could be making such a sound. Is it possible the humans have captured some ocean creature, built a boat on top of it and compelled it to push?
eat the boat.
Indeed
put this strange and querulous creature out of its misery.
So many unanswered questions, but of this you are certain: these creatures are no match for you. You circle around again and approach from the front. The humans are clustered to the rear. Even if they should happen to look in your direction the mast will obscure your arrival. Hugging the water line, you listen to their conversation as you approach.
"Oh my sides! How could you live with yourself after that?""I was in boarding school at time. Goodness, I never thought I'd still be hearing about it today."They never hear you coming. In a well-practiced maneuver, you simultaneously grip the bow of the boat with your hind claws, while raking the lines holding the mast in place with your fore. To your great surprise, the lines provide considerably more resistance than expected, and your rake severs only half of them. Upon closer inspection you see that they are not rope, but metal. Annoyed by the delay, you reach in and grab the mast with one hand and yank it completely free from the boat, the remaining lines snapping with the smell of metal in the process.
This reveals the entirely of your form to the already screaming humans.
eat the boat.
You inspect the metal mast in your hands while the humans scream, and one of the males disappears below deck. Like the lines that held it in place, the mast seems to be made of some sort of metal. Holding yourself in the air with your wings, and pulling the front end of the boat slightly out of the water with your hind legs, you cautiously smell the mast. It is a metal that is completely unfamiliar to you. It neither iron, nor copper, nor steel, nor any metal or alloy known to you. Squeezing it reveals that it is hollow. Curious.
You tear a piece from the mass and toss it into your mouth, tasting it experimentally before swallowing it whole. It lacks the flavor of iron, but is lighter on your tongue. It is not as distasteful as copper, but altogether you are not very fond of it, whatever it is. You discard it into the water.
Glancing back to the three remaining humans, one female has curled up into a ball on the deck, while the other two hold flat squarish objects in their hands. The woman still standing is holding hers to the side of her head, while the male is pointing his at you with arm fully extended.
Then eat them.
Consume the humans as well.
keep the females
"911 help this an emergency" the standing woman screams.
"Oh my god please help!"More numbers. You wonder why these humans seem so preoccupied with them. Still, she seems to be no threat. You grab the male in one hand and force him into your mouth, head first and screaming as you bite down, and then silent as you lurch your head forward and bite down a second time to consume his legs.
"It's a fucking dragon!" the female screams.
"We're on a boat I have no fucking clue but there's a dragon oh my god it just ate Kenny!"She seems to be talking to the object in her hand. As you ponder this, the other male returns from below deck holding a metal stick. It seems too well rounded to be a weapon, but it smells of steel.
"Meet Winchester, you scaly bastard!" he cries, as simultaneously a loud boom erupts in your ears, the smell of something unfamiliar burning fills the air, and something taps the armor beneath your jaw. So it seems it was a weapon after all.
You slash with a single claw, tearing both the weapon and entire upper torso from the man and into the water. Then, allowing your full weight to come crashing down, you swallow what remains of his legs and take a mouthful out of the boat in the process. Whatever material the hull is made of, it is not wood and tastes bland.
"AAAaAaaaayyyyyiiieieeeeeeee!!!!!" the two women scream, the braver of the two now having fallen to the deck with her companion.
The water recoil following your plunge completely submerges the boat, and you note that while the growling at the back continues, there seems to be no creature pushing it from beneath as you previously suspected. You grip the hull with your hind feet and flap your wings a few times to lift it sufficiently clear of the water then release it. Its buoyancy helps tremendously, but even so it seems lighter than you expected for its size.
Ask the humans what year it is, and what has happened since we have slumbered.
Ask questions first.
Avoid "Filthy Peasant."
Perhaps "Mortal."
+1
"YOU! MORTAL! WHAT YEAR IS IT?"Now drenched and clutching to a metal guard rail, she is too busy whining and crying incomprehensibly to respond. Her companion, meanwhile, seems to have lost consciousness, and from the smell...control of her bowels, as well. This, at least, is familiar. Usually if you simply wait, they come to terms with their situation and regain their ability to speak. However, you're not really built for hovering, and it's a bit tiresome holding yourself stationary in the air. Meanwhile the boat is clearly unable to support your weight. If this conversation is to be a long - your thought is interrupted by a new voice:
"Ma'am, please stay on the line. Help is on the way."It seems to be coming from the small object the woman was speaking to before. She's now holding it tightly to her chest.
What do you do?