Another beautiful sunny day had rolled by for the prestigious colony, their small plantation was thriving, but it only had three types of crops and one of them takes ages to grow, that combined with the constant whining of the colony's inhabitants saying they were tired of eating the same veggie stew and occasional roasted potato was getting too much.

On a cold and humid night, Meuphyr had been tasked with setting up a bonfire for everyone to gather around, he even took the opportunity and handed out blankets for them to warm up. Everyone was all curled up in comfy fern beds on the beaten grass patch that was reserved for meetings and feastings, in the center a crackling warm fire burned bright.

Kitty was preparing a meal for everyone - very aware of the criticism that would soon ensue - she emerged from the tent they used as both a kitchen and pantry, with a pot of stew in hands. She set the pot on a table besides the group and started filling bowls with the yummy stew, handing them out to each xunari afterwards, as Kitty gave the last bowl to Midnight, she sat on the stack of fern and pretended to eat, trying to glance at them and see how they reacted to the food; she caught Latte imitating vomit gestures to Lavender in secret, making the latter chuckle. Kitty frustratingly slid her eyes to the right and noticed Meuphyr eating the stew, he looked a bit nauseated while eating it, she then turned her head to the side - not discretely at all -, to look at Midnight, she didn't try to hide her annoyance and turned to face Kitty and said it straight to her face "Yeah I don't like eating the same thing over and over again, but I'm not gonna hide it" And continued to munch on a carrot. The rest of the group became flustered after basically being called out, and Kitty sighed in defeat, "Okay.. We're gonna resolve this tomorrow".

Tomorrow was now today, everyone was going about their usual routines, all wondering what their researcher meant yesterday. Kitty came out of her tent and walked to the center of the colony's clearing, climbing on top of a crate and proudly announcing: "Attention!" Everyone turned to look at her when they heard her call, and all crowded around her, ears intent on listening. "Let's form a foraging party and search for more food! Everyone grab a satchel and we'll take to the wilderness!!" All of them were delighted, finally, something other than potatoes, carrots and beets, even Midnight who was usually gloomy couldn't hide her excitement. Meuphyr picked up a bunch of bags from storage and distributed them to all the others, each of them were carrying at least three satchels, ready for adventure.

The party decided to split up, Meuphyr and Midnight would explore the marshes and swamps, meanwhile Latte and Lavender were going to the mushroom forests, Kitty decided to go with the latter group since they were still fairly young and could use some guidance, "After we all get enough produce, we'll meet back on this spot so we don't get lost, got it? " The entire group nodded their heads in agreement, and in less than a minute, they had all scattered. Midnight and Meuphyr were strolling through the soggy swamp grounds, Meuphyr walked with certain difficulty, he was looking down the entire time, paying attention to the puddles of muddy water and wet grass patches, avoiding them as best as he could, this did slow him down and made him pay less attention to his surroundings, butting into Midnight's back a couple times on accident. Frustrated, she started to jump on puddles in front of him to soak him in disgusting murky water, at first he would get stunned by the splash for a second or so and would continue with his strategy of dodging the wet debris on the ground, still unaware of his surroundings. But then Midnight kept splashing the poor guy more until he admitted defeat and actually paid attention to where he was heading.

Through that entire kerfuffle, they found some rice and a bunch of berries, Midnight tried eating some but was shut down by Meuphyr every time, warning her that they could be poisonous, "But then why are we even picking them if they're bad?!" She retorted, "Because if we take them back, we can safely test if they're edible!" Meuphyr replied, he felt so brave, Midnight scared him the most due to her angsty teenager antics, she huffed and turned her head at him, throwing the berries she was holding at his face, some splatted and left a stain on his fur, she smirked, delighted. But deep down she knew he was right, it would be safer to examine the berries first, but she didn't want to agree with him.

Cut to Latte and Lavender, the former's satchel is filled to the brim with mushrooms of different types; chanterelles, button mushrooms, king trumpets, portobellos, there's so many they keep falling out. Kitty of course is very disappointed by this as she didn't feel like examining every single mushroom type to find if they're toxic or not. Meanwhile, Lavender is just following Latte around, unsure of what to get, her satchel only has a few leaves and a stick, just so nobody says she's slacking.

The foraging party went out in the bright hours of the morning and had finally returned at the very end of the afternoon. Latte, Lavender and Kitty were lounging in the grassy spot they had set as the meeting grounds after the forage was over, simply waiting for Meuphyr and Midnight to return, and sure enough there they were, with plenty of bags filled with various resources, Meuphyr - poor thing - was drenched in swamp water and his muzzle stained with berry juice, Kitty asked about the tsabhua's condition and Midnight spoke ahead of him, "He was clumsy" and then walked off. Kitty looked at him warmly and went "Oh you~ Be more careful next time, ok?" He sighed, tired, "ok..".

In the evening, all the xunari were preparing the clearing for the feast. Kitty was inside the pantry tent and had finally gotten a hold of everyone's forage bags, emptying them out on the cutting table, one by one. She felt delighted by all the wonderful produce, and most importantly, she felt delighted that the complaints would - hopefully - die down. Curry immediately came to her mind, despite being wary about using veggies, she hoped that everyone would enjoy it nonetheless, she cooked the rice, chopped some vegetables and topped it all with a few spices. As she had finished pouring the spicy sauce that was lying around, she felt… watched. She did a sharp head turn and caught a bunch of faces staring at her with hungry eyes, she shoo'd all of them out and with a deep breath, cautiously stepped out, shielding the meal. Midnight, Meuphyr, Latte and Lavender were lined outside, eagerly waiting for dinner.

Everyone got to their fern beds as usual and began to eat, despite having some of the same old vegetables, the new additions masked their taste entirely, and for once in a long time, no one complained about the food.