Husband of the Goblin Tribe

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

~~** 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.

Days passed and I slowly grew older. Around this time, Dad had visited Ivory one night and the following day, I had become an older sister when Ebony came into the world. And she came in hard. Until Ebony, only Diana Artemis and Glace had given Old One a reason to be happy.

“Bone Lord!”

Old One declared Ebony a very powerful strong-one, like Diana and Glace, and was exceptionally pleased. So pleased, in fact, she celebrated by drinking a lot of Blue Water and pushed Dad down only to hop on him a whole lot, saying he wasn’t so ugly today for some reason.

But that celebratory feeling of having a strong sister joining the tribe also left me feeling afraid.

I still hadn’t found what I was good at, what use I might have, and now I was already having younger sisters come into the world who were far better than I was…

I felt lost.

I felt like I had disappointed my maker, Doll. I had disappointed my Dad… and I had disappointed all of my sisters who tried to help me because I wasn’t all that good at anything.

I thought I might be abandoned for being useless and different, but that didn’t happen at all.

Dad made me a small axe and told me to join Doll in chopping down trees for now.

When not trying to help Doll, who was a bit frustrated that I chopped slower than her but also didn’t scold me for it, Button had said she wanted to spend time alone with me. That involved following her to a spot in the forest where many many mushrooms grew in a circle.

“Rine… you might not be a mushroom goblin like Husband and I are, but you can appreciate the swirly-whirly.”

Button was referring to the thing Dad did in the bath where he spun his finger around in a circle and made the water spin and pull downward. I also found it interesting to watch when he did that.

“Tricky Husband Ark taught me the secret of the swirly-whirly, and so I will teach it to you, because I feel like it can help you. What is important about the swirly-whirly is how you find the way to use it… with the way that you are.  All you need to know is that Husband and I will always believe in you.”

And so, Button showed me certain ways to move and how to throw out my hands and feet to defend and attack, as a hunter without a weapon, like Button was, would.

My days were filled with chopping trees and spinning around while throwing punches and kicks, but I couldn’t completely change what the thing behind my eyes, which I learned from Dad was called my mind, told me to do.

One day after working hard at doing both, I was tired and sweaty, and wanted to take a bath before I ate something and laid down to rest and be lazy. I heard a strange sound coming from Dad’s cave-hole and rushed inside to find out what it was.

He was sitting by himself in the space to the left of the entrance to his cave-hole. In his arms was some long thing made of wood and his fingers were passing over thin strands of rope which were making sounds that had drawn my complete attention. My feet had taken me right to his side without any delay and I could only stare at Dad in amazement.

“What is that?”

Dad looked up at me and smiled.

“Called Lute. Prima let use. Make music with.”

“Music?”

He passed his fingers over it a certain way and different kinds of sounds came out. Every single time it did, my entire body felt strange. Even the place behind my eyes—my mind—said that the thing I was missing, the thing that kept me from being like the others… was this.

“I want to hear more music, Dad!”

“Okay, want teach you fun thing do music?”

I nodded with the entire force my body could muster. I needed to know more about this thing called music.

Dad stood up and began to pass his fingers over the thing he called a Lute and began to speak words that went along with the sounds while doing things with his legs.

You put your left foot in,

And take your left foot out,

You put your left foot in,

And you shake it all about!

You do the hokey-pokey,

And you turn yourself around,

That’s what it’s all about~!

Dad then stopped the sounds and pointed at me.

“Want try?”

“Yes! Keep making music!!”

He told me the words were something called a song, and the song was called the hokey-pokey (it didn't mean anything). What he was doing was a simple form of something called dancing. Dad would play the song and change the words to suit a different part of my body which I had to extend and then retract and then extend and then shake. It was very comfortable to do, and when I ran out of arms and legs to use, he would move on to weird things like my butt or my tongue or my ears… I couldn’t get enough of it.

The grip my mind had on my body since I came into the world had, for the short time Dad made music, let go of the control it had over me. As long as my body moved to the music, I was… free. Until, inevitably, like all other things, it came to an end.

I lay on the floor, sweating, breathing hard, but completely satisfied.

“Dad… I think I found it.”

“What find?”

“Teach me how to make music.”

Dad frowned a little when I asked him.

“Not know how teach music well. Show Figurine what know, all can do.”

I knew the frown on his face was one of disappointment. Not at me, but at himself. Dad was the kind of goblin who would give anything and everything he had to make any of his strong-ones happy. He was just disappointed that music wasn’t something he was good enough at to teach reliably. Just like how using weapons to hunt wasn’t something I was good enough at to learn reliably. However, even knowing a little bit of how to make music was more important than anything else to me.

We took a bath together after the music ended and Dad began to examine my body closely, especially my arms and legs.

“Figurine train body with Doll?”

“Yes. Button is also teaching me things.”

Dad nodded.

“Lute belong Prima, no can make one Figurine. Not know way make string for sound. Lute not only thing make music. Called instrument. Many kind. Make many Figurine try, find which ones like use.”

“I want something that can make music while I move my body. Is there one like that?”

“Already know what want? Can make something, need time think how.”

“Deal!”

The next day was one where Dad couldn’t be found by anyone. Turns out he was in Toy’s cave-hole, in the special cave-hole he made for her called the work-shop. He had spent the entire day using his magic to make me things that made music.

The day after, I was in his cave-hole and the long table near the entrance was full of things laying atop it.

“All instruments can use while moving. Can show how use, not sure-think how make right sound with all…”

Each of them had strange names that weren’t in gob, but Dad was easily able to fix that.

The first was a pair of wooden things that looked like bird legs. He called them marr-akh-ahs at first, but then called them shake-shakes. He picked one up and shook it. Sound came from inside the fat part that would have been the upper leg meat. Depending on how he shook it, hard or soft, the sounds would change.

Next was the kass-ta-net, which he then called clack-clacks. Using a small piece of rope, they slid onto his fingers and thumbs and would make a sharp sound when clacked together. I liked those a lot!

Next was something called a oh-kah-ree-nah, now called a blow-shell. It had a hole to blow in, and holes that sound came out of. Depending on how his finger pressed on a hole, different sounds could be made! There were two other kinds of blow-shells. One was a blow-box and a blow-stick which he called a har-mon-ee-kah, and re-kor-dur.

I was already thrilled seeing this many that Dad had made for me, but it wasn’t all of them yet.

There were some that were made with fur and bones that really had me excited. They went around my wrists and ankles and had balls of bone that had small stones inside of them. When I shook my hands or my feet they would make noises as well. Dad didn’t have a name for them, and said I was free to come up with one if I wanted to. The last major item was something that looked like Melon’s apron, only there were thin pieces of wood sewed into the front. Dad then had me push my fingers into the dirt and after pulling them out he did some kind of magic and there were now thin stone finger-coverings which he called Thim-bulls. He put them on my fingers which made the sharp tips of them round like his, and told me to run them against the wood on the apron.

When I did, many flat sounds came out.

He then told me there were many many more kinds of instruments, but for now this was all he had the ability to make for me. Certain other ones needed metals of certain shapes and thickness which couldn’t be found or made here in Goblinhome… yet.

I couldn’t use all of them at the same time, so I went through using them one by one with Dad joining in using the blow-stick and played more music. Songs he called the ground-bird dance and shiny-star which were fast music and slow music, but both equally enjoyable to listen to.

Vera, who lived in Dad’s cave-hole together with him had sat down and listened to us making music together, with me trying to find the right moment to use a shake-shake or a clack-clack or even to use the scrape-scrape (the apron with the wood sewn onto it). I don’t think I ever felt as good as I did in my entire life than I had in this moment with Dad.

But he had reached his limit.

I hadn’t realized it, but we had been making music together for almost the entire day! Dad looked more pale than usual, which was a hard thing to do since he wasn’t green-skinned like most of us goblins.

“Figurine… learn what need?”

Ah, it’s not that he was having the same amount of fun that I was… he was teaching me what he knew by having me make music together with him. Dad was exhausted, lying on the floor. Vera had me help her drag him to his cave-hole next to hers where he could lay down on his straw bed.

“Husband. Rest.”

Vera hardly ever said more than one word at the same time, which meant that she felt Dad really needed to lay down and rest. Dad reached out to me, grabbing my arm and pulling me onto his body, giving me a powerful hug.

“Still most important thing teach Figurine music. Listen, yes?”

“I’m listening, Dad.”

“When make music, never think job. Never think what must do for tribe. Music powerful magic. Not less strong magic Me, Vera, Glace, Ebony have. Music Figurine magic. Always important know how feel make music. Music power come from how feel. Make music happy, make music sad, change what magic music power have. Dad proud. Want listen music Figurine make. What special music hide here since come into world.”

He poked his finger into the side of my head, to the place behind where I saw.

And I began to cry.

He knew.

What am I saying?  Of course he knew!

Dad always knew and understood me the best.

At times better than I understood myself…

“How… did you know music was what I was missing?”

“Not know music. Only know something. Believe one day Figurine find. When happen, Dad promise Doll do everything can for strong-one. Not fix everything. Not need fix anything. Figurine not broken. Figurine special goblin. Way do thing special, way think special, now way make music special.”

After giving me a kiss on the forehead, he let go of me and wiped away my tears with his not-pointy fingers.

I wound up leaving his cave-hole, but not without being told to take all the things that he made for me to make music with. Vera helped me carry them to my cave-hole, where Doll was already sitting down being lazy, drinking blue water with Berry.

“What is all of that?” Doll asked me.

“What Dad made for me. What was missing from my life this entire time.”

“Is that for hunting?”

“No. It’s for making music.”

“Music? The thing Prima has that Husband uses?”

“It’s different from the Lute, but these all make sounds in a similar way.”

“Hmm… and you know how to use them?”

“I’m learning. Dad says making music is my magic.”

“Magic? You can use magic?”

“That’s what Dad said.”

Doll took a drink of her blue water and leaned back.

“If you can use magic, then you don’t need to help me chop trees anymore.”

I shook my head.

“No. I’ll keep helping you chop trees. Until I know how to use it properly, I still need to be useful in some way.”

Doll only nodded.

“Vera, want to join us for a drink of blue water?”

Vera took a seat and joined Doll and Berry while they drank for a little while, as I put all the instruments except the shake-shakes onto the shelves inside my own cave-hole. Those I held onto as I laid down on my straw bed and shook them softly and as quietly as they could, listening to the sounds they made and what ones I found pleasant to hear.

I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come, when I could tell Button all about everything that happened…

~~** ??? **~~

“How was it this time training with her?”

“Different. Way body move change since find music. Think can be hunter now if want. Figurine strong.”

“I’ve never doubted that she is.”

“What thing Tricky Husband want show Button today?”

“Something I want you to pass on to her. A new… martial art meant for her, but one you might appreciate as well. You might be able to fill in the missing parts that I’ve forgotten.”

“What called?”

“Capoiera.”

“Kah-poh-ed-da?”

“That’s right. It involves a lot of moving, tumbling, flips, and kicks… you can think of it like a swirly-whirly kind of combat.”

“Sound fun. Want see.”

“Okay, but first I need to teach you the singing music that goes along with it.”

“Button listen.”

“Repeat after me: Paranauê~, paranauê, Paraná!”

“Banana way?”

“Close enough.”

“Different from Human way or Goblin way?”

“L-let’s not worry about the details. Now, watch my legs closely, this is how it’s supposed to go…”