Foraging with Capra & Martinez

“So….what are we doing out here in the middle of the woods again?”

Martinez watched as Capra shuffled around on all fours, using his clawed digging gloves to tear up the soil and dirt all around him, as if looking for something. Capra, cryptic and weird as he was, had only given Martinez a short explanation about how they needed to “find the woodland ghost” and how it was “imperative to their survival.” He hadn’t bothered to explain what a woodland ghost was, or what it had to do with rummaging around in the dirt. Truly, Martinez wouldn’t have even come under normal circumstances, but this was Capra he was dealing with. For everyone else’s safety, he figured he owed it to them to at least watch him.

Capra turned to look at Martinez, still on all fours prowling around like a feral animal, “The research people said there was a woodland ghost in this part of the woods. Don’t you see how dangerous that is? How are you so uninformed?! It’s a glowing mushroom for crying out loud! It could be radioactive for all we know…it is our duty to purge the specimen from these woods and make it safe again!”

Martinez blinked slowly, processing this information before saying, “You do realize the breach was contained right? The only weird thing out here is you.”

Capra scoffed, moving a large mound of tree moss and dirt out of his way in his search, “You would say that, wouldn't you? Well, some  of us like to frequent this woods for educational and recreational purposes, and I am one of them! I like to hold bonfires out here with my friends…I will not let a mushroom put an end to our rituals- I mean festivities.”

Martinez rolled his eyes, “Alright, whatever you say buddy. I’ll help you look for the glowing mushroom. If we find it though, what do we do?”

Capra paused, before shrugging, “Throw it out? I don’t know. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Martinez sighed, grabbing a pair of binoculars and going to help the eccentric Xero search.

~ ~ ~

It wasn’t long before Martnez noticed a faint glow from the corner of his eyes. He had gone a further ways up the path, away from Capra, and had come face to face with a small colony of mushrooms.

Turning, he called down the path, “Capra, hey Capra! I think I found some of those ghost things you were talking about!”

It took only a moment before he heard the skittering sound of Capra’s feet as he bolted to meet Martinez. He nearly bowled him out of the way with an unceremonious “let me see them!” and a growl. 

Martinez waited, watching as Capra inspected the small cluster, before he turned to him and nodded, “Yes, these are woodland ghosts. You have a good eye Martinez, I underestimated you.”

Martinez rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah, thanks. Now what do we do about it? I think we should tell someone and just leave a marker here or something.”

Capra shook his head, “No need, I have a better idea.”

With that, Capra scooped up the mushrooms and placed them inside a small satchel that had been hidden under his fur. Once secured, he placed his fur over the satchel once again and hid it from view. Martinez gave him a skeptical look.

“I’m not even going to ask what you’re going to do with that.”

Capra smiled, “Good, best to not get involved with things you don’t understand. Now….let’s go. We’ve done our job.”

Martinez had a bad feeling as he watched Capra skitter back up the forest trail. He sighed, following him. He supposed they had at least stopped the spread of an invasive mushroom species…but now there was Capra to worry about, and that was almost worse.