Much Room for Mushrooms [Prompt- Baba's Request - Hrist]

The Sylvangloam. Just about as opposite as a body could get from Brookfell, with pristine woodlands and strangely glowing mushrooms. Plants that evaded categorization. Pokemon that probably hadn't been caught and indexed yet.

All in all, it was, to most, beautiful.

For a bonafide city-dweller, such a place may as well have been a foreign planet.

Still, Hrist could feel an almost-rhythm in the way the boughs swayed above. The lack of the common chatter of the city, the laughter, the vehicles and the odd shriek here and there- it was nearly uncanny, and yet there were parallels to be found. The whispers of the leaves against themselves. The groan of the wood, the calls of the Pokemon. There were ways, even with as strangely shifting the paths were, to keep oriented in this place.

They had come here for a purpose- to seek out new and unusual pokemon and nera to collect. However, as they roamed, the Gloam gave way to a clearing. In this clearing, there was a stall.

A stall, just a flimsy looking wooden construct with gay colors that reminded Hrist of their playful, youthful days running amok with their father's crobat in tow, throwing ball and chasing the neighborhood growlithes and skitties. There was a little old lady there, settled onto a tiny stool, her wrinkled old face softened with a friendly smile. Her gnarled hand lifted in greeting, and Hrist felt themself drawn in inexplicably. They stopped a few feet away, found themself smiling right back.

"Hello, Grandmama- you're a long way out in the woods, aren't you?" Hrist chirped playfully, before sitting on the ground before the lady.

"Oh, I imagine I am, I imagine I am... but then, so are you, child," Baba replied, and rested her hands in her lap after gesturing to her wares. "Welcome. This is the Sylvan Stall, I'm Baba."

Hrist sat up a little more, and peered into the stall before sinking back down. "That so? A shame- I didn't bring any of my cash, didn't expect to run into anybody else today." Today? Tonight? It was kind of hard to tell the time of day, as thick the growth overhead with the glowing plants. Did it matter? Not in particular.

"Ah, well, then, perhaps you can help Baba out? I need a little help today, you see- and perhaps you'll find something you desire along the way?"

Legs folded criss-cross applesauce, chin against the knuckles of one hand, and Hrist rolled her hand to coax her to speak further. "Eh? That so. Sure, I could spare some time. Not like I'm doing anything in particular today, anyway."

"Wonderful, wonderful. I would like for you to harvest me some mushrooms. I've a list, with some pictures to help, here, one moment..." A hand in the small of her back as the lady hauled herself up- Hrist almost hopped up to offer a hand, but Baba was already upright. She went to the stall, and rifled about until she came up with a rolled sheet of paper. A scroll. This woman was offering a /scroll/ to Hrist, who looked amused and bemused as they took it.

"Oh, sure, sure- ah, got a b-" they started to ask, before the grandma thrust a large basket into their hands, and waved them off. "Thanks, I'll be back." As long as they didn't get lost in the gloam, at least. Hrist turned, and unfurled the scroll to study the shrooms. A few of them were bound to be nearby.

Sure enough, after a few moments, Hrist had found a nearby grove, with plenty of mushrooms on this tree or that, including a fallen log that was just about tall enough to walk through.

Obviously, Hrist made their way straight for that one, for the sheer novelty of it. They carefully checked each mushroom against the scroll's pictures before wrapping her hand around the stems. Stalks? Trunks? Just what did they call that, anyway? Most of them came away with more ease than could be had in the classification of fungi, at least. After around thirty minutes of this perusal and plucking, Hrist's basket was nearly full, and most of the mushrooms on the list, in the requested quantities, had been successfully acquired. However, one cluster still eluded them.

And, as they finally laid eyes on the mighty mycelium mass, working its way up over the underside of the log they'd just came out of. That one proved a little more difficult to gather, but they scraped and scoured off the bark, careful not to inhale any potential spores, before carefully closing it up in the basket.

The way back to Baba was surprisingly straightforward- more than they remembered it having been in the past- and they frowned a bit before shaking off that concern, and holding out their haul for Baba to look over happily. Once she was satisfied, the two exchanged a quick hug, a peck on opposite cheeks, and Hrist was off, back to their search with a few more supplies in hand.