He flicked his tail, slapping it against the sand as if in threat, but he knew the drill by now even if he couldn't remember it. He would put up a front and the team would 'talk' him down and then bait him with food so that he could be scooped up. So he rose up onto his hips where his human half gave way to the scaled one, hissing as the men spread out around him and offered various expressions that ranged from amusement to wariness.

"Come on now, Winter," one of the men called. "Settle down and I'll give you this." A shiny necklace was held up, swinging from gloved fingers. It would be cheap, hardly worth taking, but he was always attracted to shiny things. It was a merfolk trait.

He glanced towards the water, searching for Steve even as he settled back on the sand and returned to sliding his scaled body along the beach to dry it faster. A few of the group pretended to be looking for something while the rest moved in as they always did. He slapped his tail once but it was obvious token resistance.