Hoi and Emri
@ERode@Versa and many dead Rabbits RIP. .
Location:
Horned Rabbit’s Nest - Forest
Gathering Wood, Water Root, Vines, Rabbit Parts and more . .
Hoi breathed out as the flying rabbit cracked against the ground. Under his feet, warm, salty blood seeped out, and he stepped off his other prey. Two rabbits. Good. Emri slew another. Even better. He breathed in, feeling his body grow ever stronger. Easy now. Hunting these rabbits was easy. Food wasn’t a problem. Now, water wasn’t either. As for the rest…
Shelter was secured. Clothing then. Weapons too. And, most importantly, fire.
“Good hunt. Easy prey, good meat.” With bold steps, Hoi strode towards where the rabbits had been gnawing just moments before. He sat down cross-legged, and with his incisors, chewed through the back ankles of the rabbits. If they were the sort of rabbits he remembered, their fur would come off easy. For a moment, his eyes glanced over to Emri, as if to ensure that the skinnier goblin was looking. Then, he continued. Hooking his claws underneath the loose fur, the rotund goblin began to meticulously pull the fur off the flesh, almost like removing a sock.
“Fire, Emri. We prepare for that next.”The smaller goblin felt no traces of exhaustion suddenly as the sweet scent of blood caught his senses. And he slowly made his way to Hoi as he worked on preparing the rabbits. Fire would be next, but was that entirely necessary? Sure, the sun would be going down in the coming hours and the warmth and lighting of crackling firewood would be nice. Oh, for cooking the meat, maybe?
“We need dry sticks. Or two rocks.”The skinny goblin’s eyes wandered the perimeter, seeking either of these two materials. The wet soil would make finding deadwood of any kind difficult, but two rocks would be an easy feat. Scampering over to some of the brush he had previously hid within, two small flat stones sat buried halfway into the mud. Emri pressed his green fingers into the sticky soil pulling them free before hustling back to the skinning goblin.
“Need dry surface.”“Don’t know firemaking from rocks.” Hoi shook his head. His kin’s gusto was admirable, but first, it was good to drink water, eat meat, and think. Every bit of flesh seemed to clear his head more. It was good. Comforting. More knowledge flowed in.
“Eat, drink, now. Talk after. Then, work. Sun sets soon.”As if to set an example, the rotund goblin took a bloody bite of rabbit, relishing in the elasticity, the texture. A part of him was repulsed, but another part just salivated, hungry for more. Careful though. Savour it. He then leaned back, picking a particularly plump tree root to chomp on. The water that seeped between his teeth was earthy, sappy. But it was watery too. Good difference. Washed away the blood between his teeth.
“Understand.”Emri nodded and quickly put the two rocks into his makeshift cloth knapsack before dropping his rear to the mud. The horned rabbit he killed would be snatched by its head, and thoughtlessly the goblin tore a leg clean off the poor animal’s rind. Marrow and tendons slipped down to the floor, but Emri didn’t want to be wasteful. He picked the small scraps up and quickly plopped them into his mouth, swallowing them whole. Then he’d snap his teeth into the leg, peeling the raw flesh clean from the bone and swallowing it ravenously. He wasn’t even tasting his food at this point, the hunter’s high was truly getting to him.
“Fire. Maybe bring some water root to cave? We trade others for good stuff?”Emri raised a bald green eyebrow before ripping off another limb from rabbit’s corpse. This time he absentmindedly chomped into the bone, the strong teeth making easy work of the thin rabbit bones and even managing to chew the hard calcium composite into a paste within his mouth. And then swallowed without even noticing. Maybe in the back of his mind he knew what he just did, so he made sure to grab a root and bite it open to slurp down that refreshing sappy surprise.
“Hrm.”Hoi regarded the water-root briefly. With a violent bite, he tore into it, before pulling his teeth away and watching it seep with a pale green liquid. Then, he looked at the Rabbit Horn. Two flintstones struck each other in his mind, and he nodded slowly.
“Bottle. Find thick, dead branches. Drill with horn. Fill with water.” What they needed most was lots of wood. Wood all shapes and sizes. Wood for fire, wood for water, wood for meat.
“Give them what they need. If they work, share ideas. If they trade, trade bottles.”Hoi stood up, his makeshift loincloth bag on one hand, and two rabbit horns in another.
“Wood. Branches. Twigs. Bark. Vine. Fire and water, together.” A slap on his own broad, hunched back.
“I can carry much. You can find fast.”Emri jumped into a stiff stand of attention, eyes glistening a doe like, full of inspiration. Hoi wasn’t just strong, nor was he a good leader, he wasn’t even just a super genius he was someone who used his knowledge for the benefit of everyone. What was that called ..
“Entraneur!”That wasn’t it. Or something like that. Either way, Emri felt more motivated to do things when Hoi gave him direction. And this water bottle idea was something that he could definitely wrap his head around. All he had to do was look for stuff, lots of wood, some vines, but he only had the one horn from the rabbits. But that wouldn’t stop him. In one hand was his long whipping stick, in the other was the armless and legless disheveled corpse of the rabbit. Emri sprung out from their new sitting spot and took the nearby bushes to search for these materials, taking a small snack of his rabbit while he did so.
The smaller goblin didn’t want to travel too far. Even if slimes and rabbits were easy picking, the daylight was diminishing, and that’s when the more dangerous prey would begin to appear. His eyes were looking at the trees, plenty of them had the branches and bark that they needed, but finding vines that weren’t pitiful lengths was a challenge. About thirty feet out from the rabbit’s nest was a massive tree, larger than the rest in the area, and a great long vine dangled from the lowest branch.
Unfortunately that branch was still mountains high for Emri, and a frown developed on his face as he looked up. Maybe the thistlebranch could snag it down? He tried to jump and latch one of the thorns onto the silky greenery, but they wouldn’t take. Maybe he should call for Hoi’s help? No, Hoi already does most of the work so that definitely wasn’t an option. No other choice.
Emri dropped his rabbit and stick, clapped his hands together, licked his lips and marched up to the base of the tree. There was a small dent in the side of the tree trunk, deep enough for his foot to grip within and get a jump start on a few feet in height.
“Hoi! If I die! You can eat me!” Emri didn’t really mean that, but he was sweating bullets as he barely managed to get his second foot to grip a small portion of the bark before making even more height up the tree. He reached out for the vine, his arms weren’t very long but if he could get a good hold with his legs he might be able to stretch out his upper body.
He used his thigh muscles to squeeze the shit out of the tee bark, sharp ends broke skin and held his minuscule weight as his chest separated and his hands finally made contact with the vine.
“Come help grab! I don’t want to die!”Whereas Emri looked up to the sky, Hoi preferred to sweep the ground. Wind, rot, and various other factors meant that there was plenty of deadfall in the dense forest, while with a combination of horn and claw, he was able to wrestle bark off trees as well. It was menial labor, boring work, but work was work, and the rotund goblin was a professional that got work done, even when he was his own employer. Daylight faded, but that didn’t mean he needed to sleep with the sun. If they could make fire, there was comfort. If they could make bottles, they could go on for longer. Vines made string, which made better garments. So many things to do, so little time.
They needed more skilled workers, huh.
As the bundle of branches and bark grew, Hoi was pulled out of his musings by Emri’s cry. Oh brother. That was something. Dropping his own load off to the side, the goblin let out a grunt, before craning his neck up, his spine curving backwards. There was that uncomfortable crack again, that shot of strange pain. But he slapped his belly regardless.
“You fall. I catch. Trust.”Emri looked down, the second wind of confidence had vanished into thin air the moment he saw the five foot drop down to the floor. But as he came crashing down to the ground, the stronger goblin would easily catch the small goblin brother. And Emri sighed with relief, wiping sweat from his brow.
The vine he clasped was around seven feet in length. The fibrous plant was both stringy and elastic, some strange flowers seemed to blossom along its ends as well. As Emri found his feet back on the floor once again, he’d curiously pick one of these yellow flowers and eat them off the vine. Bitter, horribly bitter, numbed the tongue even.
“Not edible.” But the vine was retrieved, and the small goblin wound it up into a small circle before placing it around his shoulder. Reaching down he’d grab the rabbit corpse for another bite, peeling meat from its back now, but there wasn’t much left. Honestly though, they had probably eaten more today than the generation before them in the past week.
“Bark, twigs, branches, easy. Fire difficult.” There was indeed plenty of dead undergrowth from east to west, but much of it was damp. Kindling itself was the easiest part, it was finding some flint to spark that fire. The rocks Emri had grabbed could possibly make something happen, but finding a stone with harder minerals in it was probably the most optimal solution.
“Maybe in cave we find, rock that makes fire?” “Maybe. But for now. More wood, more good. Can make things in cave.” Hoi grunted, settling his burden back onto his back.
“More work now, more play later.”Emri very briefly pouted at his brother’s response, but nodded in submission before taking a final bite from his rabbit meat. He would then take his crop and begin to pace around the area picking up deadwood, branches, small sticks, loading them onto Hoi like a pack mule. Once the large goblin seemed to not be able to carry more, Emri stopped.
Rabbit hides, full stomachs, a water source, tools, so much work had been accomplished just from a single day of leaving that cave. And the day wasn’t even over. Regardless of if their plan was a success, the small goblin was happy with the accomplishments they achieved, and honestly he didn’t really want to go back to the cave. But at the same time, he knew that was a naive sentiment.
