It was a warm morning. Typically, Talik would be found lazing around in the sun- or shade- enjoying the warmth and breeze and generally shirking any duties he might have. Today, however, the sun was a bit too bright for that, the breeze a bit to sparse, and the air a bit too humid to really enjoy sun or shade. Thus, the young goblin had meandered down to the river, where the air wafting off the water was a little cooler, and he could wade up to his thighs to enjoy the current washing over his legs. Even better yet, there were no other fellow goblins around to see him, and thus tell him to do something useful!

Talik had been relaxing for a while, slightly dozing, when he heard a heavy rustling in the woods across the river. Looking up, he saw a large, furry brown head, small eyes, and wide-set, round ears- a bear! The beast seemed to take no interest in him, if it even noticed him, and instead walked to the river, wading in up to its belly. Tal remained quite still, watching it with a mixture of fascination and fear- though more fascination- reluctant to try to leave and scare it away, or else draw it's attention. As he watched, the bear plunged its muzzle into the water, withdrawing with a large river fish struggling between its jaws. With a mighty shake of the bear's head, the fish stopped squirming, no doubt its spine broken, and the bear tossed it onto the shore.

Quietly, curiously, Talik watched as the bear caught another fish a moment later, repeating the same motions before tossing its prey haphazardly onto the bank. Slowly, a mischievous grin spread over the young goblin's pointed teeth as a plan formed in his mind, and when the bear had turned away from him enough, he quietly, quickly scrambled out of the water and into the trees. He made his way slightly down river, where a large tree had fallen and provided easy passage over the choppy water of the river, and made his way across. By the time he had sneaked back to where the bear was, the creature had gathered nearly half a dozen assorted fish- barely a full meal for the massive beast, but nearly a dozen for the members of his tribe!

On his walk back upriver, Talik had picked up a long, strong stick from the forest, which has a small, jutting branch that formed a sort of rough hook. Now, he scrambled into a tree a good distance from the bank and made his way from branch to branch until he perched on an overhanging branch near the water, barely out of reach of the bear but close enough for his scheme. While the bear was distracted, he carefully lowered his "fishing rod" and- with some struggle- hooked one of the river fish by the gills. Quietly, he hoisted it into the tree, unhooked it, and hung it from a higher branch to store while he continued. Carefully, he repeated the process a few more times, managing to pull up five fish before it seemed the bear had caught its fill.

The massive beast splashed its way back out of the water, shaking out its thick, rough pelt. As it settled down to eat its catch, it sniffed at its pile with what appeared- to Talik at least- as a somewhat confused expression. The small goblin tensed as the bear looked around, sniffing at the air- and then raised its head to look directly at the young goblin in the tree, along with the fish he had pilfered. With a snarl, the bear lunged back to its paws and reared up, letting out a frustrated roar as it snapped at the branch, just barely out of reach of its huge jaws and fearsome teeth. The small goblin let out a squeak, digging his claws into the bark of the tree branch to keep his balance.

[i]Perhaps this plan wasn't as well thought-out as I had hoped,[/i] he admitted to himself reluctantly, looking around for a method of escape. Unfortunately, any branch he could scamper to was lower down and thus within reach of the angry beast below him. He gritted his teeth, resigning himself to wait out the bear's fury, though his spine prickled with the thought that he may not make it that long, or that the bear may not lose interest so easily.