Well, this was quite the change from Leo!

Having had few enrichment opportunities in the past.... four dozen or so cycles, Whale jumped on the opportunity to go down the mysterious new tunnel as soon as it'd opened up. And what an adventure it was turning out to be! Whale felt, instinctively, that she was built for these kinds of waters. Not that Fornax and Leo weren't nice, but the warmth got a bit... monotone after spending forever in the same kind of environment. This room...

She peeped her head above the surface, staring up at the... ceiling? Sky? Whale wasn't quite sure what to call what she was seeing. It resembled the sky she'd once seen, but darker and stormier. Was it solid up there? She couldn't tell, but there was no bright ball called the sun this time. It seemed like quite the harsh environment, with the dark clouds gathering ominously and wind that ripped across the surface, stirring up crashing waves, but Whale relished in the feeling of the freezing water against her body. It was like stirring awake from a long, groggy sleep, and being welcomed into a long-overdue adventure.

What would she find here?

Friend was also really really excited to go on an adventure!

He too had zoomed down the tunnel from Leo as soon as it'd opened, doing a few loop-de-loops along the way. "Brrr!" he exclaimed as he emerged into the wide-open water. He'd never been anywhere this cold before. Stay moving! He had to stay moving to stay warm! He zoomed in a random direction and didn't notice the huge shape looming ahead until it was almost too late.

"Ah!" Friend gasped. He pulled up just in time to avoid a collision with a very solid side of blubber, then backed up to examine the stranger. Or... not-so-stranger? "Oh hi! Didn't we meet somewhere before? I don't remember your name though I'm sorry, but I'm Friend! Can I stay next to you! It's cold!" he added, doing a dramatic little wiggle in the water. He didn't wait for an answer, sidling up to Whale almost immediately, but she didn't seem to mind!

@Edgar

Edgar had SWORN there hadn't been a tunnel in Leo leading this direction. He thought he had seen all over that beautiful bay (that he had been living in for some time, ah it was so warm!) but apparently he'd missed something. Through it he swam, excited, until he emerged into a dark, cold, stormy place he had never seen or heard of before.

Immediately swimming to the surface, he looked up at the sky in wonder, trying not to shiver from how cold the water here was, but it was no use. "Oughhh," he hissed, dipping his head back in to swim in a circle to warm up a bit. "Cold cold cold!"

When he slowed, he found himself looking at, underwater, a gathering. Two others, one MASSIVE (wow that thing was HUGE) and one not small but not nearly its size. Probably around Edgar's size at the moment - he'd grown quite in a bit in the last cycle.

Excitement lit sparks in his nerves and any thought of leaving to escape the chill raced from his mind at the prospect of FRIENDS! The young shark jerked forward and took off towards them, slowing down as he approached and turning a bit to see them properly through one of his eyes. "HI! Are you talking? Do you live here? Where is this?"

@Whale

It seemed like everyone living in Leo's bay had caught onto the new tunnel and gone swimming down it immediately! Whale rumbled a friendly greeting to the raggedy-looking fish, and tried to remember where they might've met before. The surface? Certainly not. The only other real social gathering she'd been to was—"The Black City?" she guessed. "But that's all right, ah, I didn't recognize you either. I am Whale!" She lifted a welcoming flipper, as if making room for Friend. Ah, what a friendly—and straightforward—name. Right after Whale's own heart.

Another aquatic Gembound joined their little gathering, and Whale waved a flipper at him too. This was really the biggest gathering of water creatures she'd seen since the Black City! —Under much less stressful circumstances, too. "Hello!" she called to the shark in musical tones. "I am Whale! I do not know where this is, but I am here to find out!" Slowly, as she often did everything thanks to her massive bulk, she turned her head toward the shark. An eye closed, then opened, in a wink.

Friend happily zoomed right under Whale's flipper as she lifted it, apparently oblivious that many Gembound might have found this, from someone they'd really just met, a little too close. Luckily, Whale didn't seem to mind! He left its shelter just seconds later, though, as a new friend came up to greet them!

"Oh! Hello!" Friend took off toward the shark, doing an excited little circle around him and leaving a trail of ripples in the water. "I'm Friend! Are you cold? Me too! And yeah we're talking! Man, isn't talking great? I never get to talk to anyone these days! I don't live here but I live in the really warm bay in Leo and then I saw this tunnel and couldn't resist going in! I didn't even know this place existed but it's sure cool, haha! Should we explore it together??"

@Edgar

Oh! Both of them were talking! Edgar was overjoyed, almost overwhelmed, but the amount of conversation being offered his way right now. It was so nice to find other swimming gembound to talk to, he'd never met any before!

"Edgar! I'm Edgar!" He looked from Whale to Friend, so glad to have a little group to explore with! "I live in Leo sometimes! It's nice and warm there. I like the shallower parts but I like exploring too!" He looked right and left, trying to get a good view of the rest of the cave, but there was a lot of depth in this ocean. "Soooo you didn't notice the tunnel either until recently? It's definitely new, right? I wonder why it appeared. Let's find out!" He looked like he was ready to zoom away and swim but he actually didn't want to take the lead this time, as he'd been the last to join. So, politely, he looked expectantly at Whale and Friend for which way they wanted to explore first.

@Whale