A short piece of fluff.
Standard Disclaimers
Thanks to JP For Betaing. (He isn't into Anime but likes Casshern, do you think he would notice if we substituted Kumo?)
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I was putting bottles in the recycling bins when I thought of this.
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Smash!
It is a clear starry night.
Crash!
A tall man in a heavy black cloak is sat amongst the dustbins at the back of the shop.
Crunch!
He has gathered up all the bottles from the dustbins and is industriously breaking them on the concrete steps.
Smash!
"Kaze!" Calls a snuffled voice. Moogle steps around the broken glass. "You know you mustn't smash bottles."
Lou steps forwards equally as carefully. "Yes, not all of us wear armoured gloves on their feet."
For she always refers to footwear as gloves; something that dulls sensory input.
Kaze weighs the last bottle in his hand. He looks at both of his companions in turn.
Moogle holds out a stubby paw for the offending item.
Kaze open his left eye, previously shut behind its dark lens. He throws the bottle high in the air, the red sawnoff whips out, barks once.
Broken glass showers down on all three of them.
"Kupo" groans Moogle
Kaze is at rest again, his gun returned to its holster as rapidly as it was drawn.
"That was uncalled for." Scolds Lou.
Moogle is silent; he knows just why his dark brother breaks every bottle he can lay his hand upon.
Lou sits on her moody hero's right side.
Moogle is left to the dangerous left side. Kaze's left eye only opens during his more alert (and troubled) moods, otherwise he is effectively blind.
And he has a very large personal space.
But as his lifelong brother and comrade in arms, Moogle knows he is safe.
"You should save the bottles for Cid." Moogle says softly.
"Why would he want bottles?" Asks Lou, "to put things in?"
"He wants clear glass to make lenses with." Moogle explains.
"What are those?" Lou, though worldly in many ways, is ignorant on technical subjects.
Moogle rummages around in his robe and gets out a lens. "Take a look though that. " He hands it over Kaze's lap to Lou.
"It's a round piece of glass."
"It makes things look bigger." Moogle tells her.
The wolf girl holds up the lens before her eye. At first she examines the back of her free hand with it, lips wriggling in concentration. Then she looks up at the night sky.
Lou gasps in shock. "The sky!"
Kaze looks up. Seeing nothing, he looks down at the broken glass at his feet again.
"What do you see?" Asks Moogle.
"It's full of little lights." Lou's face is concerned.
"Oh." Moogle laughs his wheezing laugh. "Those are stars."
Lou looks confused. "You mean its supposed to look like that? Like broken glass?"
"Why yes." Moogle bobs his pineal eye.(1) "The stars are always there."
"Always? But the night sky is always dark." Lou looks though the lens again. She turns to Kaze. "What do you see in the sky, Mister Kaze?"
Kaze looks up, his face lost in thought.
"He sees the stars too." Moogle explained reassuringly.
Lou's voice is full of wonder. "But I've never seen the stars before...Am I missing something?"
"You're missing an awful lot." Says Moogle. He realises that though Lou has good close vision, she is still short-sighted...like a Wolf.
Lou puts on a patient expression. "What are they?"
Moogle looks at Kaze, who as usual says nothing; clearly cosmology isn't part of his understanding.
Nor can he remember what his tutor taught him.
"The stars are suns, only very far away." Moogle explains.
Lou's golden eyes are wide in shock. "Like the Sun! But there are so many of them!"
Kaze's face is lost in thought. He closes his good eye. "There are more stars than there are soul crystals in the Desert of Lost souls."
Lou shakes her matted head in denial. "No!"
"Kaze has it about right, Lou," Moogle says. "There are lots of stars."
Lou frowns, "are they part of the Inner World?...Or are they the Outer?"
Moogle shakes his head. "I cannot answer that question. All I know is they are different from world to world...and different from what I recall of Wyndarias."
Kaze shudders slightly at the mention of his destroyed world.
Moogle pats his white paw to Kaze's cloaked shoulder. "Never mind. The stars are a long way away. They are safe from Chaos." He gives Lou an understanding look. "And Omega..."
All three are silent for a long moment, lost in thought.
Then there is the scratching of a rat from behind one of the dustbins. Lou is on her feet, casting around after her prey.
Moogle pricks his ears. "Don't worry the rat, Lou, I have money, lets go get a Chaotic fried chocobo supper."
All three of them get up and walk off into the glittering night.
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(1) It sure looks like a pineal eye to me...
I have never played any of the FF games (too busy wasting time with my models and classic car collection.) and so have never met one of Moogle's kind socially. He is a character I intend writing a lot more on; and so I was wondering if any of you lot would tell me a bit more...All I have to go on is a pic I found quite by accident...Most Moogles are a lot thinner than our plush pal!
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