[Trade] [Foraging] Not everything taste good!

“What about these?” Dahlia raised up her claws displaying a fine arrangement of berries spiked onto her crawls like a chicken on a BBQ stick. 

“You sure they’re not toxic?” Yuji wasn’t entirely sure that Dahlia and her own taste buds had the same likings. 

“Oh don’t be silly! They’re great.” Dahlia reassured the Shuno before munching the berries, giving her shoulders a slight shake as she looked around. “Hm.. Let’s look over here.” 

The Theri had set up her mind that she would discover something Yuji would love to eat by the end of the day but at the given time, Yuji had pretty much denied most of Dahlias own fantastic ideas for foods - Not that she couldn’t eat them or highly disliked them but merely that they did not speak to her whatsoever on a delicious scale.

“So what do you normally eat?” Dahlia and Yuji had met up for the first time not many days prior when Dahlia was devouring a pumpkin field and they had sorta just been hanging around each other since then. During this time Yuji had In Dahlias opinion, not eaten nearly enough or with enough variety so therefore the quest of Yujis favorite food came.

“Normally leaves.” Yujis answer was short.

“Leaves? Just leaves?” Dahlia shook her head in disbelief. “We will expand your food ideas.” Dahlia promised before waddling over to a pumpkin. “This one, you just crack it open and try it.” 

“These are the ones you ate so much the other day.” Yuji remembered when she arrived at the scene of a bunch of broken, half eaten pumpkins and a bloated full theri in the middle. 

Yuji walked over and lifted her front foot just enough to gently press down on the pumpkin to crack it open. 

She bowed down and got a piece of the pumpkin guts, staying silent for a moment before shaking her head. “The taste is too strong and aren’t these also seasonal?” Yuji asked.

“So? Seasonal doesn’t mean bad.” Dahlia shrugged as she snatched up some of the pumpkin guts for herself, it was tiring to be a chef in progress.

Dahlia took a further look around the valley, before continuing her waddling towards the forest line, perhaps they could find some different berries, maybe apples, oooh or pears? Her ideas were running, just like her mouth watering.

Yuji just calmly followed along Dahlia, it wasn’t that she felt like a picky eater but more so didn’t necessarily have a need for many different foods. The leaves were good and fulfilling but at the same time, watching how determined Dahlia was to finding Yujis favorite food, that made her happy.

Yuji followed after Dahlia and chuckled lightly at the sight of the Theri using her long claws to hug around a thinner tree to shake it, letting apples rain from above - the sight only got better when Dahlia noticed the ‘danger’ she had put herself in and had to make a duck and run to not get hit by the falling apples.

“You should’ve seen yourself!” Yuji laughed out brightly, shaking her head.
“Ey ey now! I could’ve been killed!” Dahlia hissed under a small smile, being dramatic for the fun of it.
“I think there’s a bigger chance of you dying from pumpkin poisoning due to overeating rather than apples falling from above.” Yuji explained while walking over to some of the newly fallen apples, knowing that Dahlia would want her to try them. Apples were nothing new however, Yuji had eaten quite a lot of them to be honest but Dahlia just hadn’t listened carefully enough when they discussed Yujis diet.

“So? What ya think?” Dahlia asked as she stood all proud, knowing apples were delicious.

“Tastes like apples.” Yuji merely commented while she was munching away on an apple.

“Tastes like apple, mimimi” Dahlia repeated in a funny voice. “There’s so much more to it, just close your eyes and-”

“I like them.” Yuji decided to cut Dahlia off and it helped, Dahlia stood silently for a moment watching Yuji as if she didn’t believe her.

Dahlia squinted her eyes at Yuji before shaking her head. “Nope. Not good enough, come on!” Dahlia turned on the spot before marching onwards. She wanted one thing Yuji would LOVE, not just ‘like’.

“More walking?" What do you have in mind now?” Yuji shook her head at the Theri.

“Mushrooms!” Dahlias reply was short but energetic; however you could spot her mumble something to herself but not make it out.

It didn’t take long for the both of them to kind of stand there, slightly lost on where exactly to find mushrooms hence none of them having tried it before. 

“That way maybe?” Yuji tilted her head towards a thicker forested area that they hadn’t checked yet.

“Yeah, let’s try that.” Dahlia agreed before beginning her march. “Do mushrooms even grow this time of year?” 

Yuji gave a small shrug. “Maybe?”

It took a good while of wandering and kicking to fallen leaves in the underbush before Dahlia let out a loud “Ah- ha!” as she swung her claws through the underbush, staking a mushroom on her claw. “Look what I found!” Proud, she was.

Yuji calmly walked over beside Dahlia and looked down at the small patch of mushrooms in front of them. "At the same time?” Yuji asked as her attention turned to Dahlia.

For the first time Dahlia looked slightly unsure before gently nodding her head, however her gaze turned to Yuji and gave a soft smile. “Same time.” 

The two of them counted down from five and then both took a big chunk of their mushrooms and the only thing breaking the silence in the forest around them for a moment was the sound of their munching and crunching.

That silence was abruptly ruined by the wrenching noise of Dahlia as she leaned forward, trying her best to get the mushroom mush out of her mouth. “Terrible, terrible, terrible!” She whimpered in between her dramatic act.

Beside her Yuji stood very surprised by the taste of the mushroom and even had to give it another taste before frowning slightly and shaking her head. “yeah.. no, this is a pass for me too.” Yuji spoke while watching her friends dramatically die beside her or well- it almost seemed like it; Some handled ugly tasting foods better than others. 

“That is the WORST I’ve ever tried!” Dahlia sobbed out while looking at Yuji, almost in betrayal as if any of the fault was Yujis.

Yuji gave a short nod of approval. “Yeah- let’s .. you know-”

“Yeah- No more mushrooms. Agreed." Dahlia nodded, knowing what Yuji tried to kindly cancel out of their food experiment. 

Yuji stood for a moment collecting herself before looking back into the forest with a tilted head. “Soo.. Pumpkins?" She asked with a cheeky smile as she had spotted a small patch of pumpkins further down, knowing fully well that Dahlia would not be able to say no and with how they meet, ending on pumpkins was almost symbolic.

“After you.” Dahlia bowed down with a gentle laugh before they both started heading for their new ‘safe food’.