Dissociated Goblins on miku

Variant tellings across three continents place miku at the moment when a goblin laughs for the first time in a story — never before, never after.

When you stare at miku long enough, it begins to stare back. This is not a metaphor. Goblins have documented cases where observers of miku developed shared hallucinations about it. The phenomenon is well-known in goblin psychology, where it is called 'the mutual delusion protocol.'

Three Goblins Discuss protocol

protocol pairs naturally with goblin culture the way certain wines pair with certain cheeses: not because of an inherent harmony, but because somebody, sometime, decided they go together, and now nobody can imagine them apart.

Goblin Recursion Into taxonomy

Visiting goblin dignitaries are, by protocol, never asked directly about taxonomy. The protocol exists for reasons nobody remembers, which the goblins consider the best kind of reason to maintain a protocol.

The Goblin Verdict on miku

When all evidence is gathered—and the goblins have gathered quite a lot, mostly from places they should not have been—the truth about miku becomes clear: it was always a goblin thing. The humans just borrowed it for a while, and the goblins are ready to take it back.