shatteredlenses | LifeAfter Inbox

[When the call comes through, it's not Ignis' voice that is the first thing Prompto hears. Instead, it's the sound of Rory's attack call. She's obviously a bird on a mission for good or ill.

When Ignis' voice finally does come over the stone, it is a little breathless, a lot tired, but also...excited?]

And that's another one down! Greetings, Prompto. We're holding up as well as can be expected. How are things going over there? Noct found you all right?

Yeah, we're at Denny's. Don't think I'm gonna sleep tonight, so I can stay up and guard.

Where you at?

We're all on the farming islet now. Gladio brought me, Ardyn and the girls over not long ago.

[Ignis still isn't all that happy about leaving the cottage unprotected, but even as skilled as he and Ardyn are, there is no way the two of them alone could have guarded it indefinitely. It is just too much area.

Maybe once this is done, they can see about setting up some kind of protective wall around it or at least along the side facing the water.]

I know it will be hard, but you should try to get at least a few hours of sleep. We have no idea how long this will last and wearing yourself out early on will help no one.

I know, I know. But after last time... I keep worrying the sun's not gonna come up. Noct has run us ragged plenty of times before. I can last until we can get over there.

[He honestly wasn't worried about their home. Not because he didn't care, but because he cared about Iggy so much more. Until the danger had passed and everyone was safe, everything else took a distant second place.]

At least I know you guys are together. I'll stick with Noct. Maybe we've gotta start... I dunno, building up for the next attack when this is done.

[Ignis has been trying hard not to think about the sun dying again. After all, they'd been given plenty of warning the first time. Wouldn't it be the same this time if it was going to happen again?]

I was thinking about that as well. We really need some kind of barrier between the areas we've built up and the sea. Walls, perhaps, if we can gather enough wood or stone. Something to keep these creatures from setting us back months each time they come to 'visit.' I'm loathe to ask for Gladio's assistance on this, though. He will want to prioritize repairs over building anything new.

You think they'll keep coming?

Maybe me, you 'n Noct can build some kind of wall with a gate? And I could try and get some electricity going for lights. We just need the right metals for that.

This makes it very clear that they can appear outside of the rare occurrence that was the Sun's death, so yes, I believe they will keep coming. Even if this incursion doesn't last that long, it doesn't mean another won't.

[As he told Gladio, he's tired of wasting so much time reacting when acting is the only way they are ever going to get this place figured out.]

Walls with a reinforced gate would be ideal.

[Though Prompto can't see it, Ignis' expression grows contemplative. Honestly, he hasn't even dared to let himself think so far ahead as lights yet.]

Do you really think we might be able to accomplish that? A request to the Storyteller may gain us at least a small supply of metals and there is always what we found on Umui.

[Not that he's really sure he wants to make use of what was found there after everything, but if they have no other choice...]

I wanted to find resources outside of using the Storyteller. I just... I don't like depending on gods to survive. [That meant survival was at the whim of the god.] But if we wanna do it quickly, maybe we have to. If we had metal and could melt it, I think I could get started on some sort of generator. With some help, maybe. I've never built one before, but I think I have the basic idea of how to do it.

Then we could generate light instead of depending on fires. They don't like the light.

[Ignis nods in agreement. No matter how much Gladio may trust the Storyteller, they remain a god with power over them. It would be better if they because as self-sufficient as they can.

Still, the strategist in him is loathe to cut all ties to assistance from the Storyteller so quickly. They need to find a middle ground and starting with a few supplies from the Storyteller and then applying what they learn to materials they can find without the Storyteller's assistance may be the best way to do it.]

Gladio's done a little melting of metal, but I don't know if what he's been doing will translate all that well to a larger scale operation. It wouldn't hurt to ask him about what procedures he's been using, though.

[There is a moment of silence as Ignis thinks and then he continues.]

I believe some people have found veins of ore while exploring, but I don't know if they've been able to do much with them so far. Perhaps it's something we can ask about over the crystals.

[He sighed a little. He wanted to try and cut things off as well as they could, but he also understood how hard that would be to do. They didn't have a lot of the tools, and who knew how long it'd take to build everything from scratch?]

Maybe we can ask for things that people used to use to do stuff with metal? If we could at least get the basics to work with it'd be a pretty good start.

I don't know all that much about ancient metalworking, but they had all kinds of armor and stuff in the past. If they could do it, so could we.

Trail and error can produce a lot of results, and I am certain there is going to be a lot of that in our future. We just need to make sure we can keep the area we are working in and our records protected.

[Much like having to constantly repair the cottages and other buildings, having to go back over ground they've already experimented with because they've lost results and they have to be certain they covered all possibilities, will be a large waste of time.]

To that extent, we may want to focus on at least getting some of the fencing up first. After that, we can focus on experimenting.

Man, there's so much to do, sometimes it feels overwhelming.

Maybe one of the first things we could make with metal is some nails to build those fences.

[He sighed.]

After that last thing, it seems like we need to guard against the entire ocean, not just the mana pool.

That's why we must take it one step at a time and do our best not to have to repeat steps. Try not to get caught up in the idea of guarding against the whole ocean.

[Instead, they will focus on those smaller steps so it feels like they are actually getting somewhere.]

The nails might not be a bad place to start. They are small and easily tested. They will also not result in a lot of waste should something go wrong.

If I could just light up the place like Lestallum, maybe we could keep those things away.

[Which was a tall order. Lestallum had way more time to set up a whole powerplant, with tons of people working on it.

But maybe he could get lights up for these little islands and the other areas people had set up shop.]

...Well, as long as we're together, we'll figure it out.

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