[Interludes Vol. 1.5] In which we meet Figurine, a goblin who moves to her own beat. (1/3)

~~** Interlude | Figurine **~~

Tap, tap, step.

Tap, tap, step.

Touch, touch, lift.

Lick, lick, bite.

Chew, chew, swallow.

It was not lost on me that the many other ones similar to me who were gathered around were observing me closely. I felt no danger from any of them, I could even tell immediately which one of them was my maker, and I could tell that the one who looked least like any of the others was also important in some way… but aside from that, I couldn't care less about any of the others.

I felt the desire within me to eat the soft bloody thing attached to me, and after that, I felt the need to climb onto my Maker and follow the scent to the round things attached to her body and drink from them. I didn't know why I needed to do this, only that I needed to do this. There was something behind the place I could see out from, telling me to do these things, and I listened.

The problem was the lack of what usually went with it.

It was something intimate that I understood was missing from me now that I had come into the world, but for some reason couldn't remember clearly what exactly it was. Something which was once constantly in motion with me, both silent and loud. An ever-present accompaniment which gave me peace that was now missing from my being. I wanted nothing more than to have it back, but I didn't know how to communicate with any of these others who were here to explain it. I could only listen to that place behind where I could see and continue what I was doing.

Squeeze, squeeze, suck.

Squeeze, squeeze, suck.

Suck, suck, swallow.

The only time I could find peace from that place behind where I saw things, was when I was asleep. But it wasn't my maker who helped me find it. It was the strange tall one who looked different from the others. The one who pointed at itself and said daddy.

I climbed onto that one and put my ear next to the flat and empty milkie they had and listened.

Thum-thump. Thum-thump. Thum-thump.

Yes, whatever sound that it was making was fine with me. As long as the sound remained steady, I felt relaxed…

~~** ??? **~~

"Something strange strong-one…"

"There's nothing wrong with Figurine. She just has her own way of doing things."

"No. Strange! Touch ground twice before step. Always same, never change. Touch thing twice before hold. Lick food twice before eat! Strange! Strong-one have curse!"

"It's not a curse. Humans have things like that sometimes… it's called a neurosis... uh… extra-think. It's a feeling she has deep inside her head that tells her she has to do something in a certain way. It won't prevent her from doing anything important, it's just how her head tells her to do that something in the first place. Vera has something similar…"

"Same Vera?"

"In a way, but I don't think it will affect her learning how to speak gob or talking with the others. She can probably even learn to hunt or do magic if she has the desire to. Usually, humans who have this kind of thing have something they can do far better than anyone else. The trick is to find out what it is…"

"Sure not cursed little-seed? Husband make strong-one with me, seed-stick stop working for days, yes?"

"Wouldn't it be the opposite? Look at Glace. She came out a Runt, but she's got stronger magic than both Vera and I."

"Strange Shaman no talk! What can do fix strong-one?"

"We just do what we can. The only thing I ask is that you don't punish her for trying to do something as best she can in her own way. With care and support from us, she might be able to take control over what makes her do that."

"What if not?"

"Let me worry about that. No matter what comes of it, she's our strong-one. I'll take care of her like I do Vera if there's no sign of her improving, okay?"

"…for now, listen…"

~~** Figurine **~~

My maker's name is Doll. She has an important job chopping trees so that the fire in the fire-pit outside of Goblinhome doesn't go out. The tall one who looks different from all the others is also someone who made me. He has many names; Husband, Daddy, Ark… But the one he seems to respond to the best when I call out to him, is Dad. I think he might understand me the best out of all the goblins. Doll, I think, tries, but she doesn't understand me like he does. Dad doesn't get visibly upset when I follow what the thing behind my eyes tells me to do. Dad also does it along with me sometimes to put me at ease. He even did things a little differently than I did, and it was okay because whatever it was that he did, it didn't bother the thing behind my eyes at all.

One of my favorite games to play with Dad was called clap-slap-pop!

Both he and I would sit down in front of one another, and we would slap our hands against each other's. It was a game I could understand how to play easily. Sometimes the patterns Dad used were long, but he would speak words in a certain way when we would clap our hands by ourselves, which made remembering how exactly we needed to clap or slap or even pop easy.

My sisters, Button and Melon would show up sometimes when I was in Dad's cave-hole where he would watch me while Doll was out hunting or chopping trees, and when they saw the game he was playing with me, he also taught it to them, so we all could play together.

Goblins hunt at morning

And go to sleep at night

When beasties see a Bloodmaw

They run away in fright!

Diana hunts the Black-claws

While Shaman casts her spells

The one thing Husband hates the most

Is when a goblin smells!

The words he used were simple to remember and funny to repeat as our hands clapped with each other.

Anytime there was something new I needed to learn how to do, Dad would try to explain what it was and how it was supposed to be done first, then if one of my sisters was nearby, he'd have them demonstrate it for me. If not, then he would demonstrate it himself before asking me to do it. Because of that, I was soon able to enter the bath and the shit-pit without being afraid at all.

I tried learning how to hunt from Diana, Orchid, and Lilac, but I wasn't very good at using any of the weapons Prima had available to lend me for training. I tried learning how to use magic from Glace and Vera, but I didn't really have the right sense of how to feel mana in my body. I even tried visiting Melon and my older sisters Game and Fun, but making things was also something I wasn't very good at… I was at a complete loss as to what it was that I could do that would be useful to the Bloodmaw Tribe.