Beast watched the pebble clink down into the far, unknown depths. Spooky. Unfortunately, it didn't give them many ideas of what was down there past "dark and deep."

The hybrid nodded worldlessly and scooched closer at the prospect of huddling together for warmth. Several moments passed simply listening to the wind outside. Slowly, he began to warm up, dark eyes perking brightly, until the hybrid stepped away from Aspen and towards to the ominous depths.

"Man, that was quite the storm! Thanks for the help." he laughed in his coarse, muffled way. "What'dya think's down there? I bet it leads to a secret, super cool cave no-one has ever seen before." He pushed a hoof towards where the pebble had skipped. "Or warmer than here, at the very least. Wanna explore together?"

@Aspen

The brown one laughed, and Aspen realized he didn't know where his mouth was. Those tentacles obscured his face, and the voice sounded like it was coming from... below him? Well, that was odd. Aspen decided not to think about that too much, in case it made his head hurt.

"No problem!" he purred, starting down the tunnel. "I would love to. Think someone lives down there, and we're about to be their houseguests? Or are we gonna be the first ones in a long time?"

His eyes had adjusted to the dark, now, and he hoped that could help him navigate as long as some light from outside could reach within the tunnel. Still, he stepped carefully, not wanting to trip over anything that he didn't notice. "If it wasn't storming so hard outside, I might have tried to grab one of the orb-lights to bring down here! Hahahahaha! Why is it so gloomy, anyway?"

The faint refractions of light would show the snow leopard's keen eyes the details of the tunnel, for a few yards further: the way the ice rippled as if the tunnel had been slowly chipped from it with great knives, and the abrupt steepness as it descended below. The curve was forty-five degrees, at least, a treacherous one: one they might not easily climb back up if they weren't very careful.

It did not seem built for soft paws or cloven hooves. Instead, it seemed built for things that could cling to ceilings, or wriggle thick up their hollow length, or perhaps fly.

Beyond this, however, it was pitch black even to Aspen's eye: a hint that there was no further light source down below, that feline eyes would find not even a dim glow to navigate by.

@Beast