#I want to leave myself with room to build more machinery without burning my base up basically

[arolesbianism]

Also in my current main oni playthrough I'm at 22 duplicants and my goal for the playthrough is to get all of them so I'm abt halfway there but god damn do I not have enough space for more of these fuckers I'm going to be able to shove some more into my two newest colonies on the two planetoids I've traveled to so far but one of them like Just got started so it's going to be a while before I'm confident in upscaling it, and the other one is mostly made up of radioactive biomes and salt water biomes with the only more livable biomes being at the very edges and the very bottom of the map, so while I do have a pretty stable base getting set up over there it's going to be pretty obnoxious getting the living space set up due to how little space I have in my current main base area and how far away the other forest biomes are from that. On the bright side I found the mysterious hermit home on the brand new planetoid so I at least don't have to worry abt him as much, although I'm gonna be real idk how I'm going to get food production up and running since there's like No dirt, and I don't rly want to have to send someone back up through the surface magma biome to pick up any dropped off supplies.

[cygnetofthesea]

Hiding in Plain Sight Part II: WA AU Drabble

A continuation of Part 1-this is where I leave it because I have no idea where I would take this story past this point.

Dedicated to @barryslightningrod , @instantsaladartisan and @theroseiris for inspiring me to write a continuation. Thank you guys for your support and enthusiasm!

Growing up, Iris had grown accustomed to her younger brother giving her mini heart attacks. From the moment he began to walk, Wally had a penchant for creeping up on her sister and frightening her until she was sure her soul had left her body.

It seemed like the tradition continued even into adulthood because as Iris stood there, staring at her very much alive brother, she could have sworn her soul had actually left her body and she had drifted into some other plane of existence.

"Wally?" she had gasped.

He grimaced and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Eyes," he said, referring to the nickname he had given to her as a baby when he couldn't say Iris.

Barry had stood, with just as wide eyes, flitting between Wally and then Iris. As far as he knew, Wally was dead. That was what had prompted Iris to even seek him out, to begin with.

They would later find out that Wally was onto Eobard Thawne and had taken protective measures. So when he found that Thawne wanted Wally's invention, he staged his own death, knowing it wouldn't be long before there was a hit on him.

He explained that he had to keep his only family safe, his sister, his forever protector.

"My ass!" Iris shouted at him with watery eyes.

In the last few days since Wally revealed himself to be alive, Iris was filled with a myriad of conflicting emotions. But her relief and elation were more prominent as she reunited with her brother and they caught up on missed time. But Barry was still able to see the underlying hurt and anger that simmered beneath the surface. He had wanted to bring it up but was afraid of sparking her ire.

But it seemed her brother was capable of doing just that all on his own. When he forbade her from going on a run for intel, she blew up. It didn't help that Wally had excluded just Iris, allowing Barry to come with.

"Do you have any idea what I've been through."

"I know," Wally said softly.

"NO! You don't! I have been crumbling on the inside, I've been trying to hold it together and--"she broke off as her voice cracked.

She turned away toward Barry. He wanted to reach over and pull her into his arms, to take away her pain. His own heart ached with the anguish on her face.

He had never once seen her cry. In the months since he had met her, he hadn't once seen her cry. Until now and it was a sight he hoped he wouldn't see again.

"Iris," he said softly.

She pressed her hand to her eyes and shook her head. "It's fine. There's no time to go over all of this again. I have to go make sure our tech is geared up."

Barry watched her walk away until she disappeared around the corner.

"Yeah, I figured it would take her time to get over that."

Barry looked over at Wally who slumped down into a chair. He could see the wariness on the young man's face. He was only twenty years old, not even old enough to drink legally, and somehow he was subjected to life on the run because of his brilliance. He could see the weariness on his youthful face.

"For what it's worth, she happy you're alive," Barry cracked.

"Yeah, so she can kill me herself," Wally smirked back. He turned back to look at Barry. "Hey, I never really thanked you. For looking out for her."

Barry shook his head. "Your sister is one hell of a woman. She's really the one who looked out for me."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Plus, you there's not much meat to your bones."

"Hey! We're almost the exact build."

Wally scoffed before tilting his lips up. "Either way, I'm glad she found you. I can already see what you've become to her."

Barry's heart stuttered as he flushed. "What do you mean?"

Wally gave him a knowing look. "You know what I mean."

Barry could feel the heat travel to his neck as he awkwardly scratched the back of it. He was all too aware of his burning love and desire for Iris and it was uncomfortable as is to hide it from her (especially after that…that kiss), but he was not too fond of talking to her recently not-quite-dead brother.

"Um, yeah, um, uh…I'm just going to see if your sister needs some…help," he stammered. Before he left, he turned back and looked at the young man with Iris's eyes. "Hey, I didn't get to tell you either, but I'm really glad you're alive."

Wally smiled and tipped his head to Barry.

It didn't take Barry long to find Iris in their makeshift base in an abandoned warehouse. She was fidgeting with their equipment, disassembling them and reassembling them in record time. He would never not watch in awe as Iris maneuvered her way around machinery that was twice her size.

"Hey," he said softly, leaning against the work table.

"Hi," she said back quietly. "I know why you're here."

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded, still not looking at him. "I've come to know your cues very well over the months."

"Yeah, I'm not going to even argue that," he said.

Her lips quirked at that and he was happy that he was able to pull a smile from her. She turned to look at him. "You know that's something I love most about you."

He froze for a moment, looking at her with careful eyes. "W-what…what's that? That I don’t' argue with you?"

He didn't have a single clue how he was able to breathe, let alone expel words from his mouth.

"No. Your unwavering faith in me." She set down the equipment she was holding and moved closer to him. "No one has ever believed in me the way you have. I never had to prove myself to you."

"Of course you don't. I may get overprotective sometimes, but I always know you're strong enough. I'm just happy to be here for you whenever you need me."

Her eyes welled up with tears as she looked up at him. "I know that. I never had any doubt about that."

He swallowed thickly, his heart pattering in his chest. After she first kissed him, their lives had been a whirlwind as Iris discovered the technology her brother was secretly working on and running from men who wanted to "question" her about her brother. They barely had a moment to shower, let alone talk about the implications of that kiss and what she said afterward.

At that point, it had become routine for Barry and Iris to share a motel room and knock out on the same bed with their clothes on just to get some rest, but never anything more.

But standing there in that moment, he wondered if he'd finally get the chance. The words were screaming inside of him and he didn't know if he could keep it in anymore.

"Iris…"

Before he could speak another word, she leaned up and kissed him. He gasped into her mouth but this time didn't waste any time wrapping his arms around her.

I love you, I love you, I love you...

It was as though the words were echoed in every heartbeat as he angled his jaw to catch as much of her lips and flavor as possible. God, it was just weeks since that moment outside the carnival, but it was too damn long. How he'd miss her softness and taste. How did he manage to exist without her softness?

He took in a sharp inhale, not wanting to part from her lips. He could feel her lips retreating and she chased after them until he felt them on his cheekbone.

"I love you, Barry."

He let out a soft sound as he gave into her lips that traveled to his eyes, kissing each of them before pulling back to look at him.

His eyes fluttered open to look at her beautiful, chocolate eyes. "I love you, Iris. So much."

She placed her hands on his cheeks, stroking his skin gently. "I know. It's why I felt safe even when we weren't."

This time he leaned down to kiss her. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling the contours of her body against his hands, itching to feel her skin against his own. Even if it was to simply feel her warmth against his fingertips, feel the heat that proved she was very much alive and with him.

But then again, her hands raking through his hair certainly helped him believe she was very much alive and with him.

"Hey guys! I decoded half the encryption--oh my bad…"

Barry whirled around, pulling away like she was on fire.

"Er, I was just--Iris, was putting stuff together and I was…helping…"

"Oh yeah? Couldn't tell by the way you had your tongue down her throat."

"Wally!" Iris exclaimed.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Just came here to share some good news, but I can see it can wait," he said before walking out.

Barry rubbed his face. "Er, that reminds me, what I came here to talk to you about--"

"Yeah, yeah I know. I was a little hard on him earlier. I have to talk to him."

He peeked at her through his fingers before pulling his hand away. "You really do know me."

She shrugged. "Like the back of my hand. But now I'm mad at him for other reasons."

Barry took her hands in his and nodded. "Me too."

But as they made their way back to Wally, Barry thought how he wouldn't trade any of it. Not the fear for his life, not the chases or gunfire because it all lead back to her.

Iris.

[singlebecauseofthechocobros]

Reunion Chapter 7

<<Chapter 6

Word Count: 1,378

Lianna couldn’t remember a time in recent months when she wasn’t afflicted with nightmares. Couldn’t remember dreaming wonderful things rather than the moment she watched her home burn to the ground. She hadn’t slept through the night since the fall of Insomnia. She would wake up, her heart pounding and beads of sweat lining her forehead as she stared at the ceiling unable to move.

But now was different. Now she either dreamed good things or nothing at all, waking up without fear and most of the time with Gladio’s arms wrapped around her. It was a refreshing sense to feel. No pain, no sorrow; just him.

She was always the first to wake and how she managed to finagle her way out of his hold without waking him amazed herself. He could sleep through anything, which was all they did: sleep, both relying on the other for the company and comfort from their violent dreams.

It had only been a few weeks since the trip to Meldacio and Lianna had not felt as good as she did in a long time. There was a change in the shield as well; not so uptight and ridged, rather more go with the flow as she had remembered him to be.

Rising before him she dressed and showered then proceeded to her apartment’s kitchen to brew some coffee. She was normally always gone before he arose and that was perfectly fine by her. He needed the rest and it was best she didn’t have a reason to stay in all day.

Heading out and locking the door behind her, the princess left her abode and made her way to Dave’s weapons truck. When she arrived Jenica and a few other glaives were already there waiting for her. These meet ups had become almost like clockwork: same time, same place every morning.  Normally the sun would have been about halfway up in the sky under normal circumstances, but the darkness overtaking Lucis wasn’t normal. And with daemons morphing all across the land, the hunters had never been so busy.

So she and the others would go out, extinguish some daemons and were normally back a little past one, leaving Lianna time to work with Ignis on his post war efforts with Ravus. After insisting on helping, Ignis gladly took the princess up on her offer. Within the two weeks since she had been reunited with everyone, Lianna had made frequent trips to Meldacio to meet with the advisor. Although he offered to come to her, she always negated the idea in order for her own personal gain; that being she could see her friends.

For the most part it was as if everything was going well. Everything was falling into place and Lianna was comfortable. The only thing still bothering her was that she had yet to hear from her sister, Selene. Ignis talked about his communications with Ravus but never mentioned much of the Tenebrean queen.

So one afternoon, after discussing reconnaissance affairs Lianna announced her desire to travel to Tenebrae; the announcement bringing a bit of confusion to Ignis, Gladio, and Eve.

“Pardon,” Ignis asked, his eyebrows raising up in surprise.

“I think it would be beneficial to the cause to let the people know that the lineage of the Lucian throne is trying to help. Plus I would really like to see Selene.”  Looking to Gladio, he watched Li with a face full of concern.

“We all want to see her Li,” Eve spoke, “But the trip to Tenebrae is easier said than done. We would have to drive across Lucis only then to take a boat once at the sea and we don’t even know if there are any boats along the coast there for us to use. Or even if they are working.”

“Well then we can fly,” the princess countered, “We can take an airship and make it in half the time.”

“The ships we have here wouldn’t make the long travel,” Ignis replied shaking his head, “And even if they did we don’t have the fuel.”

“We can modify the fuel to run on meteor shards,” she answered.

“They still aren’t large or reinforced enough for the journey Li,” Gladio interjected.

Lianna scrunched her brows together and stood up, walking back and forth.  She needed to get the Tenebrae. She needed to see her sister and to take action in order to gain supporters for Noct’s return.  Suddenly she thought of something.

“What about an old Nif base?”

“What about it,” Gladio questioned.

“One of them would have to have an airship right?”

“It’s possible but not guaranteed,” Ignis thought, “From my interactions with the bases, most were just for large machinery and ammunition.”

“Yeah not much there when it came to aircraft,” Gladio added, remembering his and Ignis’s many run in’s with the forts.

“But there’s a chance,” Lianna inquired.

“Possibly,” Ignis answered, “But we would have to go out and check and that alone will be very dangerous.”

“Well then I’ll go alone,” Lianna decided.

“Absolutely not,” the three spoke in unison.

“We cannot risk your life,” Eve bluntly replied.

“If it’s just reconnaissance, then let me go and if I find anything well know! No need to put others on the line for me.”

“Li we aren’t going to allow that,” Gladio stated in a firmer tone.

“Putting yourself on the line is selfish,” Ignis spoke matter of factly, “If something happens to you what happens to the people who have already began to believe in this? To believe in the Lucian throne?”

Lianna pursed her lips together, hating that he was right. She sat back down, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest, “Well selfish or not we need to get over there too. I don’t see why this is more dangerous than a typical hunting mission.”

“It’s further than when you and your team go out and the closet base to you is a few hours’ drive,” Ignis responded, “If this was to be done it would require planning and a team of people more than capable of taking care of themselves.”

“Well we know plenty capable of such a thing,” the princess grinned, feeling a bit of optimism about the topic.  

“And they would go without you,” Gladio added.

“Absolutely not,” Lianna shot back, “I won’t ask people to do this on my behalf.”

“Well then consider this conversation over,” Ignis concluded, standing up, “We’re sorry Li, but we cannot afford to lose you too.”

Giving her an apologetic expression, the advisor turned and exited the room. Gladio leaned and gave the princess a kiss atop her head, and squeezed her hand before rising and following after his friend.  Lianna could feel her blood boiling insider her, anger over taking her as Eve sat watching the princess’s face turn red with rage.

“This is bull shit,” Lianna shouted, standing up and kicking over a small coffee table. The papers and things spread across the tabletop went flying as she watched the mess she made. How easy it had been for her to cause the structure and miscellaneous things to come tumbling down by her actions. Perhaps this is what Ignis meant. She played a significant role. One false move on her part could ruin everything Ignis had been building.  Taking a deep breath, the princess bent down and turned the piece of furniture back upright and began collecting the articles scattered across the floor.

Bending down with her, Eve began helping the princess clean up her mess.

“I can do this myself Eve,” Lianna sighed, “I’m not completely incapable.”

“No one thinks you’re incapable of anything Li,” the former bodyguard spoke, “Everyone just needs this to work, Ignis more than anyone. We want you to be safe.”

“I get it but I need to see her,” Lianna pleaded, “I know it’s selfish but up until recently I thought I lost all of my family. And now that I know that isn’t true I just need to see her. She’s my baby sister.”

Eve closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, taking in a deep breath, “They’re going to kill me if they find out.”

“Find out what?”

“That I’m going to help you.”

OC’s Mentioned:

Eve Leonis by @glaive-eve

Selene Lucis Caelum by @lucianhuntress

The Crew: @bleucommelhiver @sherniwrites @owldearest @promptoastandjam plus the two above lol

Chapter 8 WIP >

[glopratchet]

Little Sin

In the world to come there is little sin. You have a new life, a new family and you are free. There are just lots of american alligators. After the election of the first ungendered president, the prediatrain movement caught fire in america. Since then most of the metaworkers involved in the project went private and made their fortunes selling to companies who were more intersted in financial gains than induction. Of coarse the metaworkers had been doing it for so long most just didn't need the money and had continued striving to make humans as perfect as possible themselves. Now only the poor have babies the traditional way and they are rarely more than 20% of any given populations usable babies. The demand for american alligator meat skyrocketed after a plague years ago and it became economic sense to breed them in captivity, who knew they stacked so well? Vats after vats of gator esscence sloshing about growing legs and then bodies then slaughtered and processed. Mostly it is a paradise, efficient, structured, specialized. Sadly your specialization did not prove to be highly valued. Who need classics when the old world is gone? Whorals where burned to ash while polled hereford heifors fetched over a billion dollars a head in auction. Your old farmhouse now an airport, your father would have been horrified, of course he was blown to ash scattering over a freeway while you mother's skeleton was proudly put on display in a metaworks museum. The old world REALLY is gone. You worked hard and got your primary education certificate then just as hard to get your secondary equivalent. You spent eight years studying in the library for your humanities and Social Science papers and got a two 2.1s and a 3. Googizon won the bid to construct for the military the most forward thinking alligator farm in existance so far and with your resumé you were head hunted to run it. You work in a half submerged glass an metal building sitting atop 523 alligators who are kept just wake enough through biog gas injection to allow them to shut their eyes without spilling out the layer of meat skewered on huge needles that run from their spinal cords into the machinery. It currently floats near the okeenokee snow swamp. You are so far from the old world it's not even funny. Sure on the T.V. they still talk about sports and throw around polotics but outside the farm all you can see for miles are trees, birds and insects and the odd alligator basking on a sunny 'beach'. Of course the building is still less then half a mile from a military base on an army enforced conservation area so humans can't wander and wipe out all the game for miles.... This is not that story. You have work to do We are primal ponds inc. we specialise in ultra farm husbandry. At the push of a button our gators from young to full grown can instantly become fashion jackets, leather coats, belts...even shoes and bags. We are pushing so many units every day we have sent reps to try and break into the japanese market, so far they haven't called back. A small mom and pop alligator farm attemping to make it. Last week our oldest gator surpass Cochon gate's world record of 880 years. The sun beats down on your farms back glass panels as you watch the thousands of beasts basking sleepily below. You snap a couple of photos with your phone and beam them over to your reps hoping they call you back soon. We need you to make deliveries for us. We have bought, rigged and updated an old freight submarine for you and set you up with a small crew, you just need to tell us where to drop off the goods. Please...we're dying here... On the rhelm of your glass office a pen floats near you. Point of view of the player: Hey, take a minute and think about where you want to go. I'm letting you choose the next sector of this adventure, with four options: theMilitary Side, Economics Side, Terrorism Side or Criminal Side... A delivery champion here is like no other: we have control over the world's only sentient beasts of burden (gators) incentive based economics that allouw us to sell our leather above price-cost, kick-back free operating licenses and few enough regulations that you can get amazing stuff done for you with a couple of well-placed bribes. Pick up the pen and choose your destiny The criminal side sounds fun: trillions of people live outside and inside the law why shouldn't we? He had a secert life as billy fea fbots biggest drug lord all along! And one more thing... It turns out no one has made a crappy real time virtual reality game based on your life and experiences yet and against all attact you have decided to give it a go.... Dedicated to delivering dragon tail in the far, far, future. Maybe that needs to change... Made by two guys on a coffee machine some sleepy afternoons...mayhaps...it's rubbish... We proudly introduce today the glamorous fallout: an adventure in the post-apocalypse and the two men who made it: bruce and ed. Glug, glug...any questions? Alligator delivery service. The story of a normal life in the post-apazaki...noh... The alligator farm where the gator are delivered is currently under a series of construction tasks. Temporary staff will used while these works last. Already we own over four over ten foot alligators including rex lex, the old female godzilla and lesi mellnick, the huge male dominant of our breeding group. We place breed these four as soon and they reach sexual maturity. We also own thirty-six smaller animals, mostly six to seven foot males and females. A massive 14 foot beast. Not nice. Bred for fights but joined our force with strange reluctance when he could do nothing against our huge alpha male. He's actually a right little so and so, never helps the keepers move any of the large trees in our scrapes.... So, we have delivered one alligator from the breeding farm to an area in florida where our electronics arm opened a new factory recently. This factory is currently attempting to recuperate from a bombing and so insurance fraud seems the most reasonable option. The factory is seeded with several obviously fake bomb scares. While this sucks for the factory work as they all have to stop working, many refuse to even enter thir building, others leave by afternoon. We plan to target the wood workers. (alves and winklehaus.....and thunder? A small safe has gone missing and we believe our bomber has probably taken it. he has clearly stolen large sums of money in the past as a means of terrorise his local communities as whenever something is stolen a new threat will appear the next day from ed or one of his fellow crack extortionists so we don't expect public interest into this theft for at least a couple weeks. At two pm on the dot bruce and ed! will enter the building wearing all black. This is when they plant the bomb that they have created in our secret base under a community centre... my brother and me got our name because ed regarded us as two like his brothers. I'm the quiet one and the brother who just does what I'm told. bruce has called ed a right character and I can't altogether dispute it. With me is greg, a new member of our team and an aspiring stand up comedian! Said he killed someone once but I'm not sure I believe that.... I finallly arrive at the building site where our two crack undercover agents are waiting. There were no actual bomb threats but daft people are still refusing to work. Ed hasn't responded to my last message so I assume that the pair of them are happily seeding the factory. We snuck in earlier, hammering boards over the glass walls to the offices at the top of the factory to avoid breaking in after hours. While at the front we pretend to be a work crew extending a main road so no one will questions us creeping about the 'closed' factory.We wander around the dark building looking for the seemingly empty offices on the top floor and come across a man trying to stuff armfuls of fabric printer paper in his sports bag. He is shocked to see us as much as we are him. The gulity man whirls around as we enter , dropping his bag in the doorway. "Hey we can help you there," I say , not knowing what else to say. 'I...um...thanks... ' he answers, patting down his pockets looking for his keys. I pick up the bag and find the keys in the first pocket I try. How about that? I hand them over and he looks at me with clear recognition in his eyes. He had obviously seen my photo in Newsweek. He must have though this was some kind of trap. So, he didn't come here to steal but to destroy the documents? Well these papers seemed pretty regular, all printer paper and cheap fabric....but then they don't exactly make a good quality paper especially not out here for convenience. Why would the guy go to the trouble of destroying these anyway? "Thank you...are you sure you can handle that?" He asks, nervously smiling at me. I'm quite big remember to add. There are two respectable fathers with me afterall. "Yeah why wouldn't we be?" I respond with a faint smile, but my smile is weak and unrealistic so as not to scare the man. I look at my brother who clearly doesn't react much to these kind of situations....or any situations really. "Right...well, you can just toss it over there." He points to a bare corner of a room behind us with his keys still in hand. 'Then um...thanks a lot....goodbye....' We shuffle towards the corner at first then I get the sense that something is not right with this guy. it may be the fact that he still isn't leaving or the nervous sweat pertruding from his forehead. We play air hockey for a second, me shuffling my feet to face him then him shuffling his feet to face me. He keeps his keys held tightly in his hands like some kind of knife. It dawns on me later that I should have grabbed them anyway. What happened after this I still cannot quite recall in exact detail... "Come on guys,.... can you let me go now? Please?", he says heading to the exit, greg mutters to him to just leave but I find myself obnixious and unpredictable as ever. Maybe he could shed some light on this situation? What was he doing with all these non work related papers anyway? Why destroy them in a hurry? It seemed pretty odd to me. I wait for him to take a few steps forward before I speak up from behind. "At least tell us how you make your paper seem so authentic." I like to lob questions like this at recent university grads whenever I can. It's part of human nature to talk about yourself and it also gives us insight into the security of new moneymakers. I had completely forgotten that some of men out there were not security at all but common criminals looking to rip off new businesses like ours so that they wont be such easy pickins later. I wasn't prepared for the booster to pull a 2x4 with screws sticking out of it out of his bag as he whirls on me with unnatural speed. If I had to fight him eye to eye my life would have been quickly terminated. Since I didn't expect the hostile response however, I had enough time to duck and cover inside the cramped bathroom . With it's cheap lock, I was ensured my safety.....or so I thought.Tip: If you're logged in, your games are auto saved for you. You can find them by clicking "My Stuff" on the sidebar menu.Story