[treasure] Seagrapes Time!

Bookmark encountered many different locations on her travels. Since her travling bookshop was affixed to a cart fit for an Alligawper to pull, she was able to travel both near and far, all while still selling enough magical tomes to keep herself afloat, and keep food in her stores.

"Woah there, Lilac! Slow down!" Bookmark cried, pulling on her Alligawper's reigns. Lilac snorted as she slowed, shaking her head slightly.

Bookmark squinted at the horizon. She was at a plains right now - one that had a few tidepools here and there across it. A quite boring place for travels, but one that could still hold a few interesting treasures. Mainly, she wasn't looking for monetary treasures this time - plains would hold far more important things, such as...

"Seagrapes!"

Capricorn-13 was host to a variety of wildlife, but seagrapes were particularly tasty for any symprite. Bookmark could afford food, of course, but she did prefer to forage for her food. It helped to save money.

"Honestly, I don't even know why someone would prepare these first before eating them," Bookmark hummed, as she jumped off of her seat, prancing over to the nearby tidepool that had caught her eye. "They taste just fine picked fresh. Don't you agree, Lilac?"

Lilac didn't respond, mainly because she was just an Alligawper. She didn't understand a word Bookmark was saying. But she did like the idea of food. She slowly crawled forward.

Bookmark was busy, though. She was dipping her hooves into the tidepool, wading slightly into it. She had to make sure she wasn't disrupting any of the wildlife there, which also meant that she couldn't pick all of the grapes. She had to leave some for the local fauna to eat up, too.

"Delish..." She muttered, picking a particularly juicy branch of seagrapes. Right as she had picked it, she took a crunchy bite, humming as she munched it. "Perfect blend of sweet and salty. Here, Lilac, you have a sprig."

She offered another sprig over to Lilac, and the Alligawper snapped it up happily, snapping her mouth open and closed as she chewed it. Bookmark sighed as she leaned back a little, letting herself sit in the tidepool, almost able to relax in the hardly-warm water.

Seagrapes were naturally sweet, but they also filtered out salt from the water - something that helped the tidepool ecosystem stay fresh and clean for all of the other wildlife that lived within it. Most symprites would filter out the salt to focus on the sweet flavor, but Bookmark continued to munch on her portion, relishing in the way the salty, almost seawater-like taste mixed and melded with the sweet grapelike flavor.

But just as soon as she had picked it, it was also gone. That was the problem with seagrapes - you could never eat just one.

"Ah, well. I guess I should take some for the road," Bookmark muttered, getting back up and stretching. She winced as she could feel her spine pop slightly. "Its natural salt should let it keep for a long while, too... would be good to check all of the other tidepools too, so I don't just take this one's entire stock. We've got a lot of work to do, Lilac."

Lilac snorted, snapping her mouth open and closed again, begging for more seagrapes. Bookmark laughed, her voice booming through the field.

"Aw, you greedy thing... alright, alright, I'll pay your driving tax. Here." She picked one more, offering it to her beloved mount. "Enjoy!"

Lilac snapped it up, and then trotted back to allow herself to be reattached to the reigns - and then she was ready to lead Bookmark forward, allowing her to visit all of the other tidepools around the area, picking the wonderful salty-sweet seagrapes.