lifenet | [Stones of Farspeech] A Request or Two

I realize most of you are busy with the new island, but if I can, I'd like to borrow a moment of your time. This shouldn't interfere with new explorations, fortunately. It's actually rather dependent on them.

[Ignis has been very absent since Gladio was sent home last month. Even now, it's hard for him to reach out and exploring in this mindset is not the best of ideas, but he also can't allow himself to idle any longer.]

Shion and I have been discussing the creation of a list of questions we can ask each new deity we run across so we can compare answers to look for patterns and other things that may help us begin sorting out the greater mystery of this place as we learn about each island we come across. There are obvious general questions we can ask, but we wanted to see if there were any more specific ones people would like added to the list. If you have anything, can you let me know? Your help is most appreciated.

[There is a momentary pause where the only sound is Ignis softly drawing a deep breath as he steels himself for the next topic.]

For those who aren't aware, Gladio has been returned to Eos. Prompto and I are going to do our bests to keep the lighthouse workshop stocked and in good shape. We're also going to try and keep his projects on the farming islet going since they are of benefit to us all. We could use some help, though, if anyone can volunteer.

Also, if you were working on a project with him, can you let either Prompto or myself know? We don't want any of those to fall by the wayside.

[His voice gets a little softer as he finishes the communication.]

Gladio wouldn't want that either and I want to do this for him.

Thank you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a pleasure to meet you, Yuuri. My name is Ignis Scientia. I'm afraid I haven't met this Pyrrha you speak off, but that going to be my fault and not hers. Unfortunately, I've not been able to get out and greet newcomers as much as I would like to recently.

[Between disappearing Kings, disappearing Oracles, disappearing Shields, and certain beloved Healer-Kings having breakdowns, it's been a rough few months.]

You don't know how delighted I am to have another volunteer to help with the farming. It's very much not my field of expertise, if you'll pardon the pun.

[ And already, we're at it with the puns... the more Yuuri learns about Ignis as a person, the less surprised she is that he's such good friends with Noctis. ]

I think it's the same for a lot of people – a lot of cities nowadays don't really have the space for gardening, and even if they do, actual farming is a bit of a step up from that. It's a shame, really.

What sorts of things are you growing right now? I'm guessing it's mostly vegetables?

[An Ignis without his puns is a sad Ignis indeed.]

It depends on what area we are talking about. The islet has fields for cotton, corn, and wheat currently. Many of us have smaller gardens near where we are living and the variety of things grown in them is much wider. You can find medical herbs, cooking herbs, vegetables, fruit trees, and I hear some strange young man even has coffee plants.

[Wow, I wonder who that could be?]

Oh, so you're all quite well-stocked, then? That's good. Do we have any sort of documentation anywhere about the sort of things that are growing? Just to get a proper idea of the scale of things.

[ It wouldn't be Yuuri if she wasn't immediately chomping at the bit to start making lists. ]

I don't know if I would go that far considering how many of us there are. I'm honestly not sure how much work has been done on the fields. It's not so easy for me to check as it is for others and gardening is hardly what I was trained in.

[So much has been learned via good old fashioned trial and error.]

We also have to deal with occasional monster attacks, which, as you can imagine, could easily destroy months of work. It's one of the reasons I've been trying to figure out how feasible it would be to build a wall of sorts around the farming islet at least, to protect it from such attacks.

Then, if you don't mind, I'll start off by taking stock of everything we have and trying to get things organized. That way, if we do run into any trouble, we'll have an easier time getting things set up again.

As for a wall... I definitely think you're on the right track. Do we have a particular area that's being used for farming right now, or is it the entire islet?

The fields are in two sections near the middle of the islet, with pens for corralling the animals nearby.

[He falls silent a moment mulling over his mental map of the area.]

It would be best to have someone with actual vision look over this, but maybe we could put the wall around the fields and the corrals? There is grazing land too, but that is less important than actually having a walled area to secure the livestock in during an attack. If we go out just a little on one side, we could secure one of the mana pools and a storage barn. The refinery happens to fall in between the two areas where the fields are, so if we wall in the whole area, it would also be safe, but depending on help and supplies, we could always break the larger section into two smaller areas.

That sounds like it should work. I'll give it a look over myself, but I'm sure you have a better idea of the kind of space everyone's using already. I'll probably spend a few days getting used to the area, then I'll see if there's anyone who wouldn't mind helping us draw up some plans for that and lay the groundwork.

I definitely want to make sure we have plenty of room to grow, though. We have no idea how many people are going to turn up or how many are going to end up staying, so if it's possible, I want to make sure we've always got a surplus of food stored away.

I agree with you on that which is why I think it would be wise to fence in the one storage barn and the empty space between the two sections of field if at all possible. Several more fields could be created in that space if necessary, and while the land isn't currently primed for fields, it's in a state where it that could easily be done.

[It is such a relief to have someone to help him with this that he can't help but feel a little excited for the first time in quite some time.]

If we already have one field, then I'm assuming we have all the tools we need to prep the land for it? Or do you think we'll need to bring in some more?

[ She's probably going to see about doing that anyway, since being over prepared never hurts. But she wants to make sure she knows what she's working with first. ]

We have some, yes, but we could definitely do with more. Especially, since what we get around here usually is worn to begin with and we've really not had a lot of people around who know about fixing farming tools.

[Which, he supposes, is something like repairing weapons, but certain isn't the same.]

As you can no doubt imagine, what we have is mostly hand tools, so the more we have the more people can work as well.

We could always ask the Storyteller, but I'm not sure I've got much to offer them in return...

[ Yuuri's only been here a short while and she's already got a laundry list of things she needs to ask the Storyteller for herself. And she feels all sorts of awful even considering asking other people to give up their own stories for it. ]

And if we don't have many people who can fix them, I imagine asking if anyone knows how to make them is already a silly question?

Honestly, nothing is a silly question around here. Not with how quickly people come and go. I would suggest making a full inventory of what we have and then submitting the question over the Stones just like I did mine.

[He's thoughtful for a moment before continuing.]

If worse comes to worse, I do have a few stories that I can donate. It's certainly a worthwhile cause.

[Stones of Farspeech] A Request or Two

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