Author's Note: This is 100 percent crack for the sake of making a joke about Professor Mirror's voice actor. For the unawares, his character in Fire Emblem: Three Houses is also responsible for a weed gag over there, and I couldn't unhear it after I knew who he was. This isn't going to make much sense without knowing that, but, honestly, I can see a dumb situation like this happening with this team either way, so it still works in my opinion.
Don't Eat the Weeds
"What kind of plant do you think this is?" Holly asked, poking at it. "Some kind of herb, maybe?"
Rita tilted her head to the side. "I dunno! It kind of looks like an herb, but I'm not really sure."
The plant in question was small, thin, and leafy. Holly had noticed it when the two girls sat down near the edge of camp, and she'd promptly gotten curious about it. Okay, she was partly just bored, but the question stood. Now it had her attention, so she had to find out!
Everyone had finished their research for the day, and Todd had convinced Professor Mirror that it'd be a good idea to eat dinner outside. Everyone could hang out and relax before going to bed, and it'd let the professor get some fresh air (for once). They were just waiting for the food to finish cooking; Todd and Mirror had put a large pot of stew over the campfire off to the side of the complex.
Phil, however, was currently nowhere to be seen. Well, at first, anyway; he made his presence known soon enough. He noticed Holly and Rita poking around in the dirt, and Phil popped up behind them, loudly clearing his throat.
"What're you looking at?" he demanded.
"Oh, this?" Holly glanced over her shoulder, still pointing at the plant. "What's it look like to you, Phil?"
"Um, a weed, duh! You're not so hungry you're gonna eat a weed, are you?"
"Of course we're not!" Rita giggled. "We're just trying to figure it out, is all. We thought it might be some kind of herb, but you're probably right."
"You can find edible plants out here sometimes, but that's definitely a weed. Please don't eat the weeds, girls."
They scrambled to their feet, grinning sheepishly when they noticed the professor. Mirror raised an eyebrow, looking vaguely amused at the situation. Meanwhile, Phil had a smug 'I told you so!' expression on his face.
"Wow, Professor! You sure know a lot about this stuff, huh?" Rita said.
"Well, I do have a couple of books on the topic." Professor Mirror shrugged. "I thought they might be helpful in case this survey takes longer than I expected."
Todd was sitting near the campfire, keeping an eye on the pot, and he carefully moved it over to one of the picnic tables. Then, he joined the rest of the group. He must've caught the tail end of the conversation, since he smiled and shook his head before speaking up.
"Not bad, Professor," he commented. "Now if only we could get you out of the lab more often to see them in person!"
"In my defense, I can identify them just fine. And besides, it takes a while to go through all of the photos you send me," Mirror replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
Todd laughed. "Fair enough; now, come on. The food's ready!"
"And I think it turned out pretty well—so seriously, don't eat the weeds. I don't want you getting sick on me!"
Holly and Rita grinned at each other as they headed over to the table and grabbed a pair of bowls. Well, hey, at least they had their answer! Learning something new was good, wasn't it?
…They just had to hope everyone wouldn't tease them about this later.