AU: Symbiosis

Context: Just showing off how Sabre and Goblin's internal connection works and what it can do :>

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[Sabre's POV]

Finally getting past the ring of mountains that surrounds the Hub (seriously, how did Orange Steve manage to make that?), I slide down the slope and onto the level ground of the woods. It's a full moon, meaning that the area is well illuminated despite all of the trees.

Goblin pokes out of the collar of my hoodie, curiously looking around. As I pull my hood over my head to help hide my face in the rare chance I run into somebody, I glance up at him as he stretches above my head, still searching.

"What's up, Goblin? Did you hear something?" I ask.

Goblin replies with a noise that we've established means 'no'.

"Smell something?"

A different noise, this time meaning 'yes'. Now also curious, I focus and breathe in. It's faint, but I smell ash and smoke, along with something being roasted. It must be far away from here, but we can get over there no problem if we take the faster way.

I find a stable, low enough tree branch, and begin to climb up. Hopping quickly from tree to tree, Goblin sometimes using himself as something to swing us to further branches, we head in the direction the smell is coming from. It gets stronger as we get closer, and we use it as a guide to where we can find it.

I suddenly stop and stand on a branch when I feel a jolt of pain, although I'm completely fine. However I can still feel the hurting, warm sensation, and I know where it is. Turning to Goblin, he lowers his head next to me with a pained and upset look on his face. I see that a large piece of wood, almost like a giant splinter, has lodged itself into his side somehow. Gently pulling him closer so I can reach the piece of wood, I carefully work in getting it out while talking to keep him distracted.

"Ooh, what happened bud?" I ask him. "Did I go too fast?"

He shakes his head, then flinches as the piece starts to move.

"Did you just run into something?"

He nods this time, showing me a fairly big bug he's holding with a tendril. I didn't notice before. Dropping the bug, he then points to his face.

"Oh, I see. It blinded you when you ran into it while it was flying, and you ran into a tree because of that." I say, wiggling the small piece of wood to loosen it. It gives way and I pull it out, flicking it away as Goblin's gooey form returns to normal. It's as if the wood piece was never even there. "That better?"

Goblin smiles and nods, then looks behind me. Carefully turning around so I don't fall, I look into the trees and see a small pillar of smoke rising up from the forest, a light emanating from underneath the treetops. We can smell the fire, and most importantly the roasting food, much more clearly now. It's definitely beef, and it smells good. Goblin excitedly smiles and looks at me, the usual tangle of emotions making itself known. I smile back, then continue hopping from tree to tree to get closer.

We finally get to the source, and it's a small camp. A fire sits in the center with multiple large cuts of meat roasting over it, almost cooked through based off the scent. A sleeping bag is rolled out nearby, a backpack next to it, and finally who we can guess is the person that all of these things belongs to; a Yellow Steve sitting next to the fire, just watching it. We don't know him.

Me and Goblin wait in a tree above the camp, watching. I have to keep him from just lunging out and grabbing the food as our stomach begins to growl, not wanting to be seen by the Yellow Steve right there. Goblin thinks it's torture, making us wait while we can see and smell the food right there, but we just have to be patient.

And as I'm internally telling Goblin off for being impulsive, we get our chance. The Yellow Steve sees the fire is starting to go down, looks around, and realizes he doesn't have any more firewood. Getting up, he heads off to somewhere in the rest of the forest to find some. I wait just a bit longer, making sure I can't hear his footsteps anymore before I jump down, knowing he's far away by then.

I hurriedly grab all four of the wooden rods suspending the meat above the fire, Goblin helping to carry them by producing tendrils, and jump back into the tree. The fire-roasted beef is quickly devoured, each of us getting two, even though we share a stomach. It's just so Goblin doesn't get upset with me because he wants to taste it too. We're nowhere near satisfied, almost still as hungry as before, but it's something. Besides, we'll probably find something else to eat soon after we start looking again. It's what we sneak out for every night.

We drop the rods as we finish and they land on the ground next to the campfire, clattering as they hit the forest floor. I stay completely still for a moment, listening.

Crunching leaves and footsteps, below us but a way's away, and very quick. The Yellow Steve is coming back, probably because of the noise.

Shuffling further into the foliage, we wait and stay completely still for a while until the Yellow Steve comes running back. Once he returns to his campsite, he sees the now bare wooden rods and looks very confused. He walks over to them and picks them up, looking around for any sign that something was there. He huffs, annoyed, then tosses the empty rods into the fire. They must have been temporary ones he made. The Yellow Steve turns and heads back into the forest, probably going to look for firewood again. And maybe a new dinner plan.

We wait for a while longer, then I quickly jump to other trees to look for something else to eat. Goblin acts like a searchlight as I just focus on navigating our way through the trees.

After a while of running, Goblin stops me with an excited noise and points himself in a direction with a wide smile. I stop and look, and while I don't see anything, the rest of our senses let me know what he's so wound up about.

Scents of rotting, old cobweb, and gunpowder, joined by the sounds of groans and hissing coming from beneath a section of crowded treetops. Many, many footsteps stomping on grass and fallen leaves. I even hear a familiar noise of eerie laughter and bottles clinking together.

A huge mob horde, score.

I smile back at Goblin, copying his exceptionally wide grin. Then, I vault myself from tree to tree in the direction of the horde that's about to have a very bad day. For us, though? Today is especially lucky.