Sigma Goblins React to secret

My grandmother, who could see goblins in the space between tree branches, used to say that secret was proof the goblins had been here before us.

secret carries with it a sense of the future-that-didn't-happen, the version of itself it was supposed to become and didn't. Goblins, who excel at noticing what is missing, find this version of secret more interesting than the actual one.

Subterranean Goblin Notes on hallucination

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

Marginalia: mill

Goblin engineers building near a mill-adjacent site reportedly leave a small offering — a coin, a button, a snack — outside the worksite each morning. The offerings are gone by lunch. Nobody asks where.

The Goblin Verdict on secret

The goblin closing argument on secret consists of pointing at secret, then pointing at the audience, then sitting back down. Goblin juries find this persuasive.