"Mmmm deelish"

Kai said towards Maomao in a satisfied tone while maintaining a cheeky grin. Maomao seemed to agree with that statement while licking his chops. He then started to cat-bathe his messy kitty face while Kai proceeded to clean up quickly, forgetting the time.

It was early enough yet she felt like she was burning daylight for the adventure into the ravine a few blocks away.

Maomao knew of Kai's hobby of foraging as he is an indoor/ outdoor kitty that loved to join her on these outings. Most often then not, when he went out, he would bring back some gifts that perfectly defined the term 'small animal abuse' and 'gore' in the same sentence. He is the quintessential feline psychopathic masochist serial killer who delights in dismembering the small rodent presents on our doorstep.

"Now Maomao, you don't need to contribute this time. Please have fun and don't torment or kill the little critters, okay?" She pleaded with him, knowing full well he was going to ignore everything and do it anyways.

"Mrawl!" He replied and jumped off the perch, heading for the door as if he knew right on que that today was forest day.

Kai smiled, knowing he was going too as she struggled to find the backpack straps which were tangled behind her.

"Sorry bro" Kai quietly said towards the cat who shot an annoyed brow look, pacing then flopping unceremoniously on the floor by the door.

Kai finally clipped the last strap into place and thankfully remembered the assembled lunch, where she managed to grab the extra portion of food that was made in a delicate manner and shoved in a tupperware that was a tad bit small for the dish. She also managed to stuff in a variety of fruits barely sliced up and mangled in a ziplock baggie. These dishes and an assortment of snacks for Kai and the cat had made its way into the lunchbag which clicked onto the pack by the side.

"Aaalrighty then! Autobots, move out!"

Kai cheerfully exclaimed while cheekily smiling to the cat.

She felt ignored as he strutted outside with his tail held high after she opened the door just enough for his body to slip past before her.

"Brat" Kai muttered as she locked the door behind their apartment which had the appearance of a pagoda or strange ship. 'The architect must have liked ships', she mused to herself while pushing forward thoughts about all the interesting edible wild plants that may have sprung up after the rainfall last night.

*

Kai busily walked and read the foraging guidebook while walking down the well-worn backroads path towards the forest.

Maomao, in the lead, still had his tail held up straight while the tip was swinging side to side in a happy gesture. She kept a watchful eye in her peripheral vision which was trained on him. He was a sassy orange tabby tomcat who had no fear, which was a problem. He was masculine and could scrap a horde of feral cats with a flick of a wrist. He made the other cats know who was the boss in our neighborhood however on the flipside, that was exactly why there was a barrage of angry complaints against this fluffy king. His arrogance almost got her evicted! She persevered and kept him indoors at the time of his testosterone tirade and swaddled him against his protests. That plus Kai got his nuts chopped off. These factors helped us keep our small cushy and financially affordable home.

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They finally reached the forest and Kai put her tiny foraging guidebook back into its designated pocket. She took a deep breath and inhaled a lung-full of clean air. "Aaaahhh" breathed out slowly, savoring the sweet damp air that accompanied the stillness of the trees. It was closer to 8 in the morning and Kai was glad she slept in a little to enjoy the beautiful spring morning sunshine. Earth was spinning. The sun was shining. The people were... Well, people. She smiled yet again, enjoying the stillness and the absence of chaos that was felt almost 6.5 days a week.

Kai finally broke the silence and stepped on a twig which was camouflaged on the path. Maomao turned around lazily and shot another look of annoyance, knowing that she probably spooked whatever prey he managed to spot.

Kai shrugged back at his piercing gaze and continued on her way.

So far, the trip was successful. She managed to dig up a young wild asparagus root while clipping the rest of the older mature stems for future use. Kai cackled to herself, knowing she hit a goldmine for free and calculated a hypothetical amount saved for dinner. The reusable bag held an assortment of rare goodies that other people didn't bother gathering due to being brainwashed by social consumerism.

She found chanterelle mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and morelles which was a rare sight for her to find in the same vicinity as the others in the northern hemisphere. Crab apples that could be processed to make an amazing refined jelly. Fiddlehead ferns, which were also as delicious as asparagus however the cleaning process was a pain.

Kai also managed to find some starter plants like wild strawberries and gooseberry which she was willing to cultivate on the balcony. She used a little trowel to dig them up. Kai collected a lot more other plant matter however she was too hyped to really be able to count it all. This forest was a haven. It held an abundance of wild edible plants that only a trained eye could really appreciate. On the flip side, any idiot could walk in and mistake a look alike poisonous mushroom and eat it. Kai shuddered at the thought of a corpse and froze solid.

Wheres Maomao?

"..." Kai's mind went blank. She knew he wandered but he never left her side when they were out together. Either he is stalking a prey or....

Kai was so caught up in the mission that it only finally dawned on her that he has been gone for hours.

Her heart sank and she frantically started to look for him. She gently called out his name and puckered her lips to make the distinct whistle sound that she trained him with.

"Pweeeeet" whistled out a few more times, letting the silence carry the whistle to echo among the trees.

"Mraaawl?" Was heard off in the distance and Kai immediately set out into the direction of his cute crying voice.

Kai jogged forward which seemed like an eternity until she came into a clearing. He was sitting among the long grass with his back turned to her. "Maomao whats that" Kai panted out while hunched forward, leaning against her thighs to catch her breath.

Obviously its a cave he seemed to gesture to her over his shoulder, shooting another one of his sassy kitty glares.

The opening seemed to be quite tall for him but due to Kai's short statute at 5', she would have to crouch considerably if she wanted to enter that dark murky corridor. Kai felt a sense of foreboding and apprehension wafting off from that general vicinity and she had no plans on entering this obvious deathflag.

"I've been in these parts frequently but i knew i never travelled this deep to know this place existed." Kai said to an oblivious Maomao.

Shit, im lost those thoughts echoed in her mind as she tried to slowly creep toward Maomao in an attempt to grab him and pull him away kicking and screaming.

What if there was a bear? Or wolves? Or some other predatory animal in there? Her final thoughts rested on a crazed hobo and she shuddered, picturing the worst that any of those combinations would do to them.

Kai could see him completely absorbed in the void of the simple dark cave with his cute little ears spinning like miniature satellites trying to catch sounds reverberating from inside.

She was close. Kai was a hairs breath away from snatching her feline friend, which subsequently spooked him.