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[color=AF9A5A]____________[/color][/center]

It was before Emri could even react that his sentiment was rejected and hard work stolen, all within the blink of an eye. The goblin’s eyes welled up as he watched the sneakthief goblin dash deeper into the cave. The clothed goblin held back a strained frown as realized the only thing that he had left from his scavenging was the small piece of bone. Learning from his mistake of carelessly holding his items out for all to see, Emri tore a piece of his brown garments along his right side. This exposed more of his, but he made sure to place the bone piece into the cloth and frayed some twill thread to tie the cloth closed.

[color=4E4444][b]”You work, you eat.”[/b][/color]

For some reason these words had a familiarity that sent chills through the goblin’s body. His legs froze, locked to the cave floor as he watched the pudgy goblin march his way towards the mouth of the cave. Emri hadn’t been so good with language skills yet, the thoughts of this new life not being everything it seemed definitely hindered him from being outspoken about anything really. He was a newborn goblin, honestly he didn’t know much. But that’s exactly why following somebody with strong direction would be helpful for the time being. If someone else was doing the talking then Emri would be able to think, and the undeveloped cranium of this goblin was filled with superhuman curiosity more than anything. It was perhaps because of the overwhelming amount of whats, wheres, and whys in his head that he couldn’t articulate his words properly. 

The warmth of blood filled the small goblin’s legs as his senses came back. Any passing goblin looks would see that the typically unsure expression on Emri’s face was gone even if only in the moment. His eyes faced the forest outside as he slowly made his way towards the mouth of the cave himself.

[color=4E4444][b]”Let’s work.”[/b][/color]

Emri turned to look back inside the goblin hovel. He winced at the sight of the majority of his brothers and sisters in their starving state. But what this larger goblin said was the truth, in order to survive you would need to apply yourself in this harsh world. Even as a young goblin who’d yet experienced what that even meant, somehow he instinctually knew this was the truth. He turned back towards the forest that now faced him and took his first steps outside of the cave that he called home. The dirt outside of the cave felt different. It was looser and less coarse, it felt good in between Emri’s toes. It would be easier to run around out here, and by association easier for other creatures to move too. The second thing that came to mind was the size of trees compared to his own height, they were towering monoliths of grandeur. Would it be climbable for the more athletic brothers and sisters, getting a higher vantage point would definitely be helpful. [i]Vantage Point[/i] ?

Emri definitely wasn’t built for such physical feats. So instead he would contemplate what exactly he could offer to the larger goblin brother. His eyes once again searched his surroundings looking for anything that might be noteworthy. But it was mostly an unoccupied area with little more than foliage and trees barren of lower branches, likely due to their own presence. Absentmindedly he wandered ahead, despite the dangers of not being armed or strong enough to defend himself with his own hands. He was searching for something, anything of little usefulness that he might be able to offer. And then he found it. 

[color=AF9A5A][b]”This’ll do.”[/b][/color]

Snatching up his lackluster discovery, Emri hurried back to the larger goblin with the [i]thing[/i] held overhead. It was a thin root twice Emri’s height, flexible brown wood, and even had a small number of thorns on it. Emri had made sure to use the bark of a tree to scrape off the thorns on the side which the small goblin had decided to make the handle, but still it was quite unwieldy. But the weight was light enough for the fragile goblin to hold the structure without struggling too much, and the look on his face seemed content with his discovery all the same.

The wave of confidence Emri had wore off some time ago, but still he gripped the newly found [i]tool[/i] with both hands and displayed it to the work-minded goblin before taking his right hand’s index finger and pointing at his face. 

[b][color=AF9A5A]“Emri.”[/color][/b]

His expression then changed to that of discontent as his yellow eyes sought the silhouette of the [i]Rock Stealer[/i]. No way I’m Emri’s goblin life would he let that sneakthief take his things again, and this gripped his new [i]thing[/i] tightly before looking to the bigger goblin again and nodding.

[b][color=AF9A5A]”I can work.”[/color][/b]
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