Stefan hadn’t quite grinned at Micah’s outburst, close but not quite, and then the everything changed around them. He was moving as well, backing away from the glass as he watched the lights dim and the water turn darker and darker, whatever light that had been shining upon them quickly masked by something. There was a long moment of nothing, no movement or sign of anything around them whatsoever, which only made Stefan’s nerves worse. “Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea,” he muttered, eyes darting to and fro.
And then there.
There came a pair of glowing eyes staring right back at him, making him let out a startled scream, loud and abrupt, not caring who he was with. Despite the darkness he could still make out its green body, the light from its eyes illuminating just enough to see. It was squidlike, as he knew it could be, but all the descriptions he could remember had been so far off their mark. It was too incredibly grotesque, too impossibly large, to be anything that resembled something from the ocean.
There were the long tentacles upon its face - his own fingers upon his chin hadn’t even come close - wiggling and writhing, pressing up and sliding along the glass. He could see the wings behind it, needlessly flapping in the murk, pushing strong waves of water against the sides of their aquarium. And then a massive claw came up to tap upon the glass, a deceptively simple gesture if it hadn’t been pointing directly at Stefan, sending another chill through him. He was dimly aware that he was changing, a completely involuntary reaction to terror but he couldn’t help himself. Cthulhu held his gaze as it swam to the side, still visible through the glass of the aquarium as it rounded the next wall to catch the next person in its horrific and unwavering stare.