((investigation solo but anyone is welcome to join))

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Oka!

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Oka had become used to life in Leo. While at first they missed their grove, the soft grasses, and the abundant lushness, Leo had features that Oka was growing to love. Sure, the other half of the island was constantly on fire, and it shriveled their skin, but it had its good qualities. It was quieter, the waves, which had been a new discovery, were calm. And, to their surprise, warm. Oka drifted from the fan rich jungles to the shores, basking in the warm waters. The snail had gradually began to curl within their shell. The warmth lulling them to sleep.

Until, that is, a bright light hit one of their eyes. The stalk reflexively shrunk into Oka's head. Then, slowly, extended outwards again. It came from the waters. Puzzled but intrigued, Oka shifted to face the waters. A collection of carollers took flight, disturbed by Oka's movements. Unperturbed, Oka slowly began to drift into the waters of the shore. A tentacle extended into the water, to grasp the glinting object. A soft, whispered thought of "What are you?" left the snail.

Whale had never seen a giant snail before.

For that matter, Whale had not really seen any snails before. They were much too small for her to pay much attention to, and they did not swim around in convenient-to-eat clouds like krill did. She had seen fish, and jellyfish, and creatures with legs, but Oka's shape was utterly foreign to her.

That was okay! Whale liked meeting new people, including and especially those with unique shapes. Their experiences must be utterly different from everyone else's, so they must have the best stories to tell! She poked her head up from the water to get a better look--ooh, were those plants growing on its shell? And there were little shiny bits, too!

"Hello!" Whale boomed, exhaling in a puff of mist to get the things attention. (As if her voice wouldn't have been enough already. She could be a little... extra, sometimes.) "I am Whale! What are you?"

@Oka

The glinting object was a pretty one: a glistening shard of mollusc shell with a pearlescent interior. It was just a fragment, and not very large, but even when dry it seemed to glimmer as if wet.

It was like a piece of the sea, the way the light danced over it--but in hard, shiny-object form.

@Oka

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Oka!

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Oka twisted the shell, watching how the pearlescent interior shifted in the light. Whale's voice surprised Oka, and the fumbled with the shell for a moment, before tucking it into a patch of grass on their shell. Oka was always overjoyed to meet another gembound. Most gembound they met came from the land. This one was...strange, they thought. "Hi! H-hey! Hello!" Oka replied. "I'm, uh, Oka! A snail!" Oka was pretty sure they were a snail. They were much bigger than Sunny had been, though. Maybe she just hadn't hit her growth spurt yet? Ah, back to the present! Oka waved a tendril.

"Is your name Whale?" Oka asked after a second. "Or...are you a Whale? Are you...underwater? Um, Whale?" They asked, rather dumbly. Oka slide closer to them. Curious about the newcomer. "I've never been underwater..." Oka said. They were silent for a few beats. Then, Oka ducked their eyestalks beneath the waves.


(The plant list on Oka's back was outdated, sorry ;v;! Safe to say they're decently lush, a few short bushes and a short sapling! Oka has been keeping things up offscreen!)

@Whale

Leo's shores, at some points, were just as much pebbles as they were sand; every passing wave sent them in a gentle roll back and forth.

As Oka dipped her eyestalks beneath the waves, it brought her what almost looked to be a frost-covered stone. It was worn perfectly smooth with a warm, magma-esque color to it. Sea glass, and a pretty large piece to boot: it'd fill a humanoid's palm quite easily with nice heft to boot.

@Oka

Whale beamed. "Hi, Oka! Snail friend!" She lifted a flipper out of the water with a splash and waved it. "Yes! My name is Whale, and I'm a whale! I'm the only whale I know! Maybe if I ever meet another whale I'll change my name!" That didn't seem likely, though. She didn't see a lot of intelligent creatures in the water, let alone anything that resembled a whale.

When Oka dipped their antennae underwater, Whale submerged herself too. "That's a cool, uh, rock!" she boomed happily. "Do you like sparkly things? I can try to find more for you!" Whale made to dive deeper in the bay.

@Oka edited my post!

Whale would nearly miss her own watery discovery, small as it was: an algae-covered, rusted bit of metal sitting amid the pebbles. It was scarcely as large as her own eye, and rather thin. If she could somehow negotiate it to the surface and wipe off the growths, she'd find that it was a tarnished gold in color, worn-smooth from how many times it'd traded hands. It was not perfectly circular, the edges chipped off and rounded again. A little shining work, and it could make a wonderful addition to Oka's shell.

@Whale @Oka

Something glinted on the sea floor, catching her attention. Whale swam toward it and bumped it gently with a flipper. Algae fell away where her flipper brushed against it, revealing a tarnished surface underneath Round, metallic, and thinner than any of the pebbles that surrounded it, it was certainly an intriguing find. If not the prettiest.

Well, it was somewhat shiny. And covered in algae--which was a kind of plant, right? Whale thought maybe Oka would like plants, judging from the ones flourishing on her shell. She bumped it with her flipper again, trying to get it upright so she could grasp it in her mouth and get it up to Oka. Everything was so small compared to her.

Eventually, she decided it'd be easier just to balance it on a flipper. Or--between flippers. Just--hit it repeatedly between flippers, and get it to go higher each time. Yeah, like that! "I found something for you!" she called cheerfully as she neared the surface again.

@Oka