There wasn't much I could do about the brown poop stains on the wall, but it was good enough as is. Now I could see more clean spots of packed dirt and rock floor instead of the mounds of dung and puddles of urine.

It was finally starting to come together. I wasn't sure how much time had passed since we'd awoken and started our cleaning. It could have been 2 hours or 4 hours. It might already be time before sunset. The grey skies outside made it impossible for me to use the location of the sun to determine a vague time.

I'd already dragged each urine-soaked cloth out into the rain, thrown it over the Crescent Moon Bush and let the rain do its thing. I wasn't worried about using up all the ammonia/urine when I had the source of all that right next to me. At the same time, I'd washed the poop off my knuckles, as well as the snake gunk crusted on my feathers. It took a while to pick off the chunks, but the heavy rain helped. Outside in the rain, I'd found that my feathers were quite waterproof, pressing close to my body as rain slid down and sloughed off all the nasty stuff.

Ahh. It was so good to be clean, in a clean-ish home.

I shook myself off like a wet dog back inside the cave, water droplets spraying on Greenie. He was back at the pile of stuff, stacking clay shards atop one another in a tower to see how high it could go before it fell. That looked kind of fun. I wanted to play.

So I joined him, picking up a larger brown clay piece and placing it on top. Every time the clay clatters into a heap, causing a racket as it does so, me and Greenie look at each other. He would grin, and I would croak and flap my wings in happiness.

This was fun!

After another turn of me carefully stacking a shard, I heard a scritch-scratching noise, making me look up.

It was Greenie, scratching at something brown that had stuck to his face. Urgh. That was poop. I just knew it was. It had probably stuck to his hand somewhere during all the cleaning and then transferred from his hand to his face.

The goblin needed a good wash. And a new loincloth. One of the clothes rinsing off in the rain was good for that.

I quit the game, no longer interested in it, while Greenie continues, not seeming to mind. Let me think...

For washing him, I could very gently peck and prod Greenie out of the cave so that he stands outside in the pouring rain as the water runs over him. But there were no towels to dry him off with, no source of heat to warm him up after we'd done that.

Running a simulation of it in my mind, I pictured him shivering and sneezing after getting clean. Yep, that was no good..

Maybe with the soft Crescent Moon leaves, we could get his body wiped down. That sounded like a good idea. Going back to the bush outside, I start to rip off a larger leaf. The thicker stem made it harder to cut through, breaking off one strand at a time when I clamped it tight with my beak.

Taking a good hold of the stem, I beat my wings hard and pull backwards, simultaneously pinching down with my sharp beak.

And I go flying backwards. My beak had cut through the rest of the stem easily.. I was still getting used to my new body...

A long, hooting call, mixed with a high-pitched scream, resonates in the forest. It makes me shiver in the rain, jumping to quickly get back to our cave. The deeper you looked into the forest from our cave, the more you could see some sort of white mist, swirling as if in response to the sound.

That loud and desperate scream cuts off with the hooting. The voice was similar to a woman's scream. Creepy.

I activate Scent Detection.

The sweet smell of blood was there. Out in the mists. It could be somewhere far from where we were, because of how slight a whiff I could catch blowing on the gusts of wind interspersed with rain. Or it could be closer, much closer, with the rain dulling the effectiveness of my skill.

I was curious to find out which one it was.

But I'd rather not be found by the source of that hoot.

I take a mental note. Better to stay in our cave, away from the mists when it rained. If it was sunny tomorrow, I might go and take a look alone in that direction.

Cocking my head, I wait for another scream or hoot.

Silence. Only the swirling mists, moving in circles like a cloud would float by you on an axis if you stared at it for long enough. It never passed a certain distance, always contained behind the trees.

Mist shouldn't move like that.

There was something wrong with that mist.

My body shivering with fear of the unknown, I carry the large Crescent Moon Leaf, bigger than a man's palm, back inside. Greenie was eating the snake meat again, bending the rib bones of the emerald snake backwards and snapping it off to eat.

He was leaning back on his haunches, sitting like a delinquent in a shonen manga.

Greenie, sit.

I pat my foot against the ground.

The wicked points of my shiny new talons against the stony part of the floor creates a screeching noise that makes the both of us flinch. Oof. It was like nails on a chalkboard, a noise that made my ears hurt just thinking about it.

Whoops, I wasn't going to do that again.

Better go back to rewarding him when he did as I asked. Watching him eat the snake until he loses interest, I take an extra piece of meat and watch him enjoy his rainy day indoors. Walking around, tracing the poop art on the wall, stacking some more clay, snacking on the snake. It took him a while to sit down. I just keep my beady eyes on him.

And then, finally...

He sits!

I swoop in. Tapping on the ground while making sure my claws don't hit the floor, I make sure he sees my gesture. Then, I immediately hand him a piece of meat. Good, Greenie!

If he can recognize this gesture as my request for him to sit, life would be easier for me.

When he sits, it was easier for me to try to swipe the leaf over his back, instead of trying to fly up and hover in place. Ravens can't hover. Or at least I couldn't. It was also a lot easier working from the ground and hopping over him, crumpling the leaf in my talon and wiping him down. Difficult, when the green goblin squirmed, but doable.

Several trips back and forth to get new leaves and wet them in the rain, since the soft leaves didn't soak up the rain but did have droplets on them.

Ta-da!

The cleanest goblin you ever did see stood before me.

Well, clean enough. His hair was still grungy, breath still stinky, but other than that, I'd carefully wiped off all the feces and animal matter that crumbled off under my focused rubbing with my bird knuckles. His cheeks were cleaned too. (Not his butt cheeks. His face cheeks)

And the nasty brown loincloth was still there. I'd broken off an especially large leaf for him to replace the cloth with, and it took a few tries with my talons clenched in a weird way to tuck it on top of the loincloth to see how it would look.

I almost considered trying to cut off these sharp talons. They were difficult to use when I wanted to wipe and dress Greenie, or when I had to be careful not to stab a piece of round dung like a kebab with the point of my talon.

These talons were the only weapons I had though. I might be crippling myself in a fight if I cut them off.

I check on Greenie to see how he reacts to the leaf I'd put on him.

"Krak! Krak! Krak!"

A few croak in a higher tone escapes from my throat in amusement when I see him standing in front of me. Yep, that was me laughing. The ugly goblin looked like one of those greek statues with the fig leaf covering their privates, but with none of the beauty.

Not an inspiring sight.

This was a sight no one would want to see in their museums. A green goblin wearing only a leaf. More like the evil villain of a children's movie than the goblin he was.

Greenie didn't appreciate my humor. I just knew he could tell I'd been laughing at him when a small wave of annoyance registers within my head from the strange link we had between us.

It's a new loincloth Greenie! Don't you like it?

He looked at the leaf on him with a look of utter disgust, curling his lip at me like I was the savage for dressing him in this.