Wish's Foraging Expedition

The little Xero looked like he was half machine with how much gear he had on, plus his cylindrical toolbox. A lot of people didn't understand why he wanted the toolbox that way, but he had several reasons, not the least of which was the ability to roll it if he ever stuffed it with something heavy. He had his full engineering outfit, plus a filtration mask that resembled a rebreather. His belt had several ORBs clipped to it, and the various pockets on his trousers were stuffed with tools for digging and cutting.

"You don't think you're just a little over prepared?" Wish glanced behind him, where Meeko was trailing behind. The older Xero was happy to help Wish, but he was skeptical of the whole situation. Was this really a big deal?

"We're talking about an alien fungus that's infected at least one Xero, is extremely invasive, and only appears in the wild for very brief windows before disappearing. I'm all for fun Meeko, but I take no risks for something this big."

"...I don't think you need a container for your containers for your ORBs." Meeko shook his head, even with Wish not looking at him.

"I don't know how many we're gonna find! Plus we're not just here for woodland ghosts. They're obviously priority, but Arc wants us to gather other specimens too for cataloguing!"

"Like this?" Wish stopped in his tracks and spun around. Between his fingers, Meeko was holding a little tree nut, shaped a lot like a spade. "I mean, yeah, actually, I don't see those much, it's probably seasonal."

"Probably?" The pair started walking forward again, and Meeko slipped one of the orbs off of Wish's belt to place the nut into. He, unlike Wish, was unclothed. Sometimes he carried a satchel or a utility belt of some kind, but for the most part he liked feeling water directly in his fur, and wanted to have to impediments even when he didn't think he could swim.

"What do you mean probably?"

"Meeko I haven't been living around here for years, I don't go on expeditions all the time and I don't track every type of plant, mushroom, and-”

“Check your catalogue!” Meeko cut him off. “You have one! ARC Labs sent the file with the whole alert thing, even I got that.”
“...I guess I missed that.” Wish lowered his ears and began fiddling with his wrist-mounted computer, searching for the initial message for the woodland ghost hunt. Maybe it was an attachment…?
Meeko snorted and pinched the top of his snout. “Oh, Wish…”
“…It’s a Hake Nut. If that matters.
Meeko didn’t respond verbally, instead just patting Wish’s shoulder and beginning to walk past him. And then he stopped. “Hey Wish, you said you wanted to grow some fruit that fit in with all your terrariums and stuff, right?”

Wish perked up, and he shut off his wrist mounted computer. “Did you find something?”

Wordlessly, Meeko motioned for Wish to join him. The little Xero scurried closer, and he caught a little shimmer out of the corner of his eye. After he passed the last tree Meeko was standing near, effectively turning a corner, he saw a decent sized clearing. Bluish clustered berries decorated nearly every potential surface a berry could grow from, and as Wish walked into the clearing, his natural bioluminescence added sparkling color to the area, as it reflected off the berries. Not only was this berry largely responsible for Wish’s own sparkly colors, it was also one of his favorite treats, AND it fit the bill for what he wanted to grow in his room.

“Meeko, you’re my favorite person, you know that?”

“Pffft. Even more than-”
“You’re my favorite person right now. Enjoy the moment,” Wish cut him off, before starting to cackle and giggle, falling to the ground. After a long day of not contributing to the woodland ghost hunt, this was what he needed to make his day better. Much better.