Big, Red and helpful. That is how Mercury would want others to describe him he decided as he walked around Central park. The first two were obvious, short of someone being a basketball player there weren’t many taller than him, and even when they were taller, they weren’t as wide or as thick.

They didn’t have perfect tails; their skin wasn’t as invigorating to look at. Few were rarely as entertaining as he. He preferred to help mutants, but he didn’t see any at the moment so he would help whoever he came across . Pluto had gotten into saving people as a hero, and while he thought that would be fun. It wasn’t something he wanted to have to do forever and he was pretty sure being a hero was a lifelong job.

So he would settle for being a good Sam martian , he wasn’t quite sure why someone named sam or martians were helpful but apparently a martian named Sam had helped enough people to earn a title for anyone who helped people.

He came across a young man who was trying to get his kite down from a tree ad laughed at the wide eyed reaction he received when he easily climbed the tree until he came to the offending branch which he snapped off and tossed into an open spot on the ground. The boy could deal with the untangling of the string. He hoped down from there and appreciate that the boy had the manners to mumble out a shy Thanks Mister. Even as his parents ran up to him to huddle around him in case he decided to eat the boy. He didn’t eat children, Most of the time.

Later he lifter a large boulder so a mower guy could just zip over the wiley bursts of grass that he would have normally had to weed eat. He then stopped traffic for a little old lady that was having trouble with crossing the road. After waiting a minute or two for her to get half way across he bound into the street scooped her up and sat her down on the other side. He figured she’d like that better than being thrown.

He was having fun making peoples days better. But this was all too easy. He wanted to make a bigger impact for someone today and so he meandered back into the park for someone who could truly benefit from his help.

Like every night, sunrise marked the end of his hunting game, inviting a very tired Guglin to move back to his burrow for the night. This time, the little goblin did it empty handed.
Despite the physical and mental fatigue, sleep did not manage to approach the little monster whose stomach kept growling in protest for the lack of food. But finally after several long minutes of turning around in the tight space and pretending to not being hungry, Guglin achieved to fall into the arms of the god of sleep, Morpheus, the shaper of dreams which awarded him with a few hours of quietness.
But of course at the instant he opened his eyes, his stomach started to growl again.

Unlike when he was under the protection of the night that made he felt safe and when he was able to move freely without any limitation, the day was full of dangers and problems he needed to solve creatively. To keep the sun away from his delicate skin, Guglin produced an enormous hooded shirt big enough to hide his body completely as if it were a tunic. The shirt was very dirty, stained with grass and dirt in many places so it also offered a simple camouflage as long as he stay within the limits of the small forest.
The weapon of choice was his makeshift spear, nothing but a broomstick with a knife tied to the tip.

Since his movements were restricted by his armor of fabric, the little goblin moved with small and accurate steps to avoid tripping over his own robes, thus making the short trip to the closest road to last longer than he expected. That path of dirt was not be the best place to start looking for food since there were no humans nearby nor any metallic cart full of food which abounded in the most crowded path. When he was about to give up and look for another path, Guglin was lucky to spot a bright chocolate wrapper. After tripping several times by the haste, Guglin noted with sadness that what he thought to be a piece of chocolate was nothing more than a simple wrapper. Even so, he ate it.

After solving the case of the chocolate wrapper, he continued to advance with clumsy steps along the same path until he found a small trash can next to some benches. He left the lance there, resting on the wood tables of the benches and using these as platforms, the little goblin dived into the trash to look for something edible. To the untrained viewer, the trash can seemed to be spitting out most of its content but for anyone familiarized with secret wildlife of the park, that little game was routine. Hopefully, the hungry goblin would remember to put the trash back in place.

Mercury paced along and found himself off the beaten path, he hadn’t really been on this particular trail before. But liked the shade and peace, if you could tune out the traffic and ever present noise of the city you could almost imagine you were in some peaceful meadow or forest….with an animal digging through a trashcan in the middle of it.

He had reached in and grabbed a stray cat once in hopes of catching a raccoon of his very own but it was just a mean tom cat that didn’t care how big or strong he was, at least until he launch the thing into the air after it scratched him, it probably cared once it was flying. But they say cats land on their feet, so he was probably ok.

Mercury creeped closer to the trashcan to get a better look at what little creature was making such a big mess, and his eyes widened as he saw a little green foot sticking out of the trash. Mercury watch curiously for a moment dodging a piece of trash here or there and then tired of waiting for the little green guy to come up for air.

He reached in and snatched the foot raising the little monster to eye level, thought the little green man was upside down. He grinned in a friendly manner and asked. “What cha doin?”

After the initial dive, the little monster advanced to with kicks and strokes toward the bottom of the trashcan where things were more interesting. The darkness that reigned within that peculiar buffet was not a problem for his large amber eyes that penetrated even in the deepest shadows, therefore, after reaching the bottom it was very easy for him to start searching and separating the edible from the rest of the garbage. Things like paper or plastic ended up being moved to one side, while the core of an apple ended in his mouth along with some other odd piece of litter ingested by accident.

It was at the very moment he was going to devour something similar to a piece of cheese, when a hand closed around his ankle and raised him into the fresh air of the morning. Of course, more garbage leaped outward when the goblin came out swiftly from the narrow space and a little more when the little creature squirmed desperately in a futile attempt to break free. Finally, Guglin surrendered and stayed still for a moment before lifting the bottom of his shirt that was blocking his vision, once it was stuck awkwardly inside his pants, the goblin dropped his hands again so they keep hanging upside down as his long ears.

With his shirt off of his face, he found himself staring at a red giant that stared back with a questioningly look. After an exchange of smiles the man questioned Guglin and the goblin replied with another question. "Me?" He immediately looked sideways, searching for another person to whom the question may be addressed, when he did not find the other person, he assumed the giant was talking to him. "Hunting." The green monster said as his stomach confirmed his affirmation with a growl.

Mercury nodded very slowly and matter of factly, not noticing that is was obvious he was the only one he could be addressing. “You.” He clarified so there wasn’t any other mistake.

Mercury leaned over the trashcan, eyes filled with curiosity and suspicion. His nose wrinkled and his eyes went wider “What’s in there?” He asked with a hint of child like glee that did not match his exterior but complimented than man inside well enough. Before Guglin could answer however, Mercury added decidedly.“ I’ll help you hunt it.’

He grabbed the trash can with his free hand and ripped it easily from its restraints. He dumped the contents from the can on the ground, his tail poised ready to whap whatever creature attempted to escape the little green one’s wraith. When nothing came running he discarded the trash can to the side and squatted down. Righting the little green man and setting him to his side, gently. Unlike the trash can that was now rolling away on its own adventure at an alarming rate.

“I think it got away. Mr Martian.” Little green men were from the Moon or Mars, and he didn’t know what to call a man from the moon. He wondered if it was another alien from Mars or some other planet.

There were a lot of things inside that trash can such as plastic bags, metallic wrappers, paper and some other less common objects... but for Guglin all that garbage contained edible things that may become his breakfast so the little green man gave him a delayed reply while still hanging upside down as if he were a bat. "My breakfast. From that particular perspective, he watched how the man stepped closer to the container without even noticing his weight, and once he reached the trash can where Guglin had been swimming, the red man lifted it with a single hand. Litter fell from within like a waterfall to form a small mountain at their feet. Meanwhile, Guglin watched the strange spectacle with absolute admiration. Suddenly he wanted to grow up to be as strong as him. Would his skin change color too...?

Once he was on the ground again, the little monster moved toward the small mountain of trash to keep looking for something edible but there was nothing left to eat. The stranger confirmed his thoughts by stating that the food had escape... it was a rare way to say it but good enough for him, so Guglin focused on the task of deciphering the nickname that he red man had used. Maybe it was because he liked martial arts, a sport Guglin had never tried in the past... but before the goblin could figure it out, his stomach growled one more time. "I'm still hungry." Since the stranger was willing to help, they might as well try to catch something both could eat... something big as a cart of hotdogs. "We hunt food." The goblin said and then he accommodated the hood over his head and started walking slowly.