#mogren

Altani and Mogren often liked to partake in some alcohol after a difficult mission. It helped them unwind and was equally as effective at drowning their sorrows if a quest went poorly, or allowing them to get wild in celebration for a job well done. 

Unfortunately, most of Hydaelyn’s populous was not ready to accept the existence of moogles on a wide scale, yet. They were barely ready to start seeing Spoken ‘beast folk’ as people, let alone creatures of myth, whimsical beings thought to exist only in fairy tales. It was truly amazing the origin of the postal service remained secret all these years, with only a special few privy to the truth of its moogle workers. 

Altani loved Mogren with all her heart. They'd been the best of friends ever since she was a little kid, and she couldn't see that ever changing. However, there were a few challenges to having a best friend who always had to stay hidden. Mogren was great at illusion magic, so it wasn't that hard to block a few others from seeing them–when sober, at least. It became monumentally more difficult when tipsy or among a huge crowd, especially if they were focusing on other things–such as healing Altani or playing an inspirational minuet to power her up in battle. 

Their close circle of friends and fellow adventurers knew about Mogren, whereas not even her family or village had met her adorable, fluffy friend (if that lie got revealed, it would only unearth a much bigger, more serious, lie–one she wasn’t ready to get banned from her village over.) 

Thus, some social sacrifices were made, and she didn’t drink in establishments unless she was alone. She enjoyed adventuring with her fellow warriors of light when she could, but that wasn’t always possible. Where one threat popped up in Thavnair, two more were as likely to appear in Hingashi and Aldenard. When together, they could have a lively get together all on their own at camp. For a major threat or downtime, she’d travel to Eorzea or the others to Othard to band together and catch up, but most of the time it was just Altani and Mogren finding their own battles to win and peoples to help. 

With just the two of them, that meant drinking together. Nobody else. It wasn’t really lonely, Altani could never feel alone when she had Mogren with her. But it was nice to be surrounded by a crowd, too. To just watch people idly and listen to gossip, and soak in the atmosphere of camaraderie. To play or watch a few rounds of triple triad and challenge the beefiest people in the room to arm wrestling matches.

They couldn’t take those chances, if they were drinking. Mogren would be likely to dissipate their illusion by accident, and then they'd have a panicked bar full of people asking what the hell was that, or trying to squish Mogren’s face and smother them into oblivion. The mood would be ruined. (Altani… may have to forever avoid a few establishments thanks to learning this the hard way.)

At first, Mogren stayed hidden as always, but there were rather a lot of children running around the place, and young ones were always the best at seeing through the glamour. A few kids pointed them out and asked Altani how many gold saucer points she needed to buy such a cute little mammet. Others asked if Mogren was some special prize from lord of verminion, as they’d never seen such a special and detailed minion before. Mogren puffed up at these accusations that they were just some simple toy, but this worked in both of their favor, so Altani said it was her little secret and kept it at that. The kids liked guessing and it’s not like she’d likely see any of them again, so she let them have their fun. 

 Altani knew Mogren didn’t have as much fun if they had to stay sober while she enjoyed a few rounds of ale, plus then Altani wouldn’t be able to respond to Mogren’s conversation without looking crazy.  As much as Altani wanted to go to large parties and enjoy a hero's celebration after an impressive martial feat with her buddy, she often declined. After all, Mogren deserved just as much credit as her in her adventuring successes, and she always felt guilty and found it unfair if she had to celebrate alone. It just wasn't as fun without Mogren; she’d spend the whole time missing them!

They’d tried drinking with other moogles a few times, but that often got far too rowdy, and their king even had to get involved once. Altani didn’t want to be driven out of the Churning Mists forever, so she gave up on that. Drinking in Bahrr Lehs did not go any better, as the dragons needed far more alcohol to try to get drunk than an adventurer’s salary could afford. She stuck to just crafting for the dragons and moogles in that area, maybe doing a fun mogdance every once in a while.

For the most part, they just bought a good amount of alcohol ahead of time, set up camp somewhere, and whiled the night away with drink, song, dance, and stories by themselves. They were a plenty energetic duo to make do on their own and have a good time. It was enough.

However, the search had idly continued in the background, to find a place they could go together without illusions. They eventually discovered one incredibly public place full of all sorts of different folk that apparently wouldn’t blink twice at the sight of a moogle: The Manderville Gold Saucer. Altani had first made her way to the place while some ‘make it rain’ event was going on. She saw posters plastered everywhere when visiting Ul’dah, so she decided to give it a chance. 

When nothing bad happened after that encounter, Altani encouraged Mogren to become visible on purpose. There were so many people running around in costumes here, they’d probably think Mogren was a decoration or maybe an employee at worst. Hells, even the sabotenders seemed to be people in getups! (maybe? She saw at least one lalafell put a costume on, but it was hard to tell if some were the real deal. It only increased her confidence that this was someplace Mogren could be visible without getting driven away). 

They tried it out, and after a bell, still nothing bad had happened. “Finally!” Altani cried out, fistpumping the air. “Look, Mogren, nobody here gives a shit about you!”

“Don’t sound so excited when you say something like that, Tani!”

“You know what I mean. But seriously, who would have thought you would fit right in at an arcade? This is the perfect place to celebrate, and the directory here says they have a bar upstairs!”

“You’re right that nobody has seemed suspicious of me so far, kupo. Is this too good to be true?”

“I dunno, but I think it’s worth trying. According to the introduction plaque over here, this place is meant for anyone, so that must include moogles!”

Mogren sighed. Those signs were meant for standard Spoken folk, certainly. They didn’t see this place teeming with ixali or goblins, after all. Still, they had a crane machine called ‘moogle’s paw’ that, if it came down to it, Mogren could spin a lie and tell people that they were just a walking advertisement for that game. They put aside their uncertainties and decided to have fun. “Right you are–I belong here! Let’s go find some games to play, then!”

There were various tournaments for triple triad, and Altani was delighted to see that they even had mahjong here. She intended to wipe the floor with the locals on that later. They played a round of ‘the slice is right’, which they were pretty bad at but had a blast trying not to get hit with bamboo. She nearly blew out Mogren’s eardrums in happiness when discovering the chocobo racing arena, which she could not wait to run through with Ultimate Winner at some point. Mogren found themself enjoying Lord of Verminion after all, especially as they could cheat at it and pretend to be a minion. That kid had the right idea! Altani just had to pretend to play, while Mogren slipped inside the machine and took care of the rest. It wasn’t a very popular game, so nobody looked too closely at their shenanigans. 

After exhausting themselves trying every single game on offer and losing at cactpot, Mogren and Altani settled into a comfy chair at the bar and lounge, sipping on some sparkly themed drinks that included overly long silly straws. They had a brochure sat out in front of them that listed out a bunch of prizes and their costs. With all their playing today, they’d racked up a pretty sizeable amount of gold saucer points already. For now, so spoiled for choice, they decided to keep their winnings and save them up for something big later.

Altani held out her multicolored drink in the air. After a moment, Mogren dutifully tapped her glass with their own, which looked hilariously oversized in their tiny paws. “Well, I’d say today was a major success, wouldn’t you?”

“For sure! Thanks for not giving up, Tani.”

“Huh? On what?”

“On finding a place we could both enjoy. I know you like bigger groups of people, kupo, so it made me sad sometimes that we couldn’t go somewhere more lively that you could have a good time at too. I didn’t want to bring you down!”

“Awww, Ren! You’re worth more than any party or group of strangers. I know we’re not always together, but I never minded it just being the two of us. This was pretty nice, though. You had fun, yeah?”

Mogren nodded their head so quickly, their pom nearly bonked them in the forehead from the momentum. “Mhmm! A blast!”

“Good. Then I’m happy you’re happy. We don’t have to come here every time we want a celebratory drink, but now we finally found a place we can go without worries!”

“Here’s to more fun times, kupo! Also, when we come here again, I am challenging you to a triple triad tournament, and I’m going to kick your butt!”

“Gasp! Such a betrayal! You shouldn’t have announced it far ahead of time, you muffin. Now I’m going to collect only the best cards to ensure that you never win! Mua ha ha!”

“I’ll eat your deck, then!”

“Ewwwww, no you won’t!”

--

“I don’t want to do this, Mogren. What if they see right through me? How can I get out of this?”

“Well…” The moogle’s pom swayed to and fro as they thought of other options.

Swish.

Swish.

Swish.

“I'm sure you'll do great, but the obvious alternative, kupo, is that we tell them--”

--”No!” was the squawked out reply, quicker than a flap of Mogren’s wings. She offered no further verbal argument, but the glare told them they would do best not to contend with her. 

Sharp, forceful, final. 

Their friend would not allow even the idea to pass through  either of their lips. Their fluffy little body was fit to burst with the affection that swelled at that. So protective, even at such a young age!

They’d come up with the plan together after much brainstorming. Days on end, and this was it. Altani was going to fool her village into believing she could communicate with the dead, the next chosen medium after a dry spell of several generations since the last had passed.

All so Mogren could go on hanging out with Altani without rousing suspicion. Befriending a member of a beast tribe certainly wouldn't do, after all. Moogles weren't supposed to exist anymore, the thing of myth.

The villagers’ sharp hearing and superstitious nature had taken Altani’s half of their conversation out of context, and come to some very wrong conclusions, which, in the end, was all the best for Mogren. If the child were deemed the next inheritor of the gift of spirit-talking, then Mogren could be written off as a simple ghost. A far-past, distant relative that Altani had befriended when coming into her nascent powers. They could stay hidden, but still converse with their friend, the village none the wiser to the truth and accepting of Altani running off to play with the dead. 

It was a lot of pressure to put on a child who hadn’t even gone through puberty yet, though. A risk and a secret that would only collect weight as the winters pass. All of it for the sake of Mogren, for their continued friendship. Selfish, really. They’d been told to stay hidden from society, and they had! For the most part. One au ra child excluded, of course.  They had been the one to muck it up, helping the girl out after she'd saved their fuzzy butt from a gruesome fate by some wavekin. Should've left it at that, disappearing and letting the girl believe it was all her imagination, instead of luring Altani into friendship over the past few seasons, and then convincing her to keep up conversation even as they got too close to the village and they knew how risky it could be--

And now this kid was paying the price. 

She had never blamed them, not once. When the village rebutted every of her excuses and insisted on their own conclusions--a new priestess, such cause for celebration! Finally we may converse with our dead loved ones and receive the wisdom of generations past!--she had gone along with it rather than reveal the true identity of the person she’d been speaking to. The forbidden friendship.

Altani’s friendship had been delightful thus far, and Mogren could imagine it only strengthening over the years… They had big plans! To teach her some instruments, how to tell the best stories, how to hold her alcohol (a ways off from that one, but Mogren was patient)... if their current plan worked first.

They would do everything in their power to make sure Altani passed the trials her village elder put forth to determine if her powers were true. She was going to become a formidable medium, even if it involved weaving lies faster than a lominsan pirate could chug a pint of ale. 

“It’s the best chance we’ve got, kupo. I’ll help you cheat!” 

Altani sat back, letting out a loud sigh. “Never really done that before, y’know.” She liked to go through life with her own strength, her own skill. The idea of cheating at something to win made her feel icky. Not as icky as of the idea of Mogren getting caught, attacked, or at least banished from ever seeing her again, though. She couldn’t bear that!

So she’d surely get over cheating and lying, she had to. It would get easier with time.

“I’ll do the heavy lifting, you just have to memorize the answers.” A simple execution for sure.

Reconnaissance had revealed the tribe's elder had a scroll that was passed down from leader to leader for decades, revealing the process for appointing a new priestess. Among those notes were the guiding questions that would offer proof. Facts about the long deceased that nobody alive would remember anymore, but were recorded for the sake of this test. Answers Altani would know if she could actually communicate with the dead.

She laughed, perhaps the tiniest bit of manic energy tinging the edges. Maybe it really would be that simple. Remember what to say. Pretend, like it's a game, and not a job interview for life, one that would change her village's view of her forever and determine if she could keep her only friend or not.

“Right. It's just studying for a test. The final exam of ‘Envoy of the Dead: an Introduction’, and one I’ll pass with flying colors. No big deal!” The forced optimism was so strong it circled back to sounding panicked. Her grin looked scared rather than self assured, must be why Mogren flinched.

“We’ll have to work on that confidence of yours, kupo. But that's the spirit!” A lot of practice. That’s all it would take. No big deal indeed. Mogren would drill those answers into her until that scroll was memorized from beginning to end.