Author's note: Ignis cooked a lot of wildlife. I have done as much Google research into the animals of FFXV as I'm going to. I don't see any "farm" animals, as such. Yes, there are Chocobo farms but we're not going to go eating them. So, I've used chickatrice because it was in the recipe my husband picked for me to have Ignis cook. (Remember, he played the game, I watched—the latter half.) The only sites that show me animals specific to FFXV were really showing enemy creatures. These are not farm animals. So I'm just going to make an executive decision here and say there are cows and sheep and pigs and goats, and maybe emus in the FFXV universe.

Momentis
Part II: Lestallum

Betting the Farm
by Philippe de la Matraque

Ignis ate his breakfast quickly. There wasn't much of it. There were more and more mouths to feed and less and less food to feed them. For the last eight months, they'd been surviving on the harvest of the region's farms, found foods, and meats brought back by hunters. The former were dwindling fast. The latter was still irregular. Even then, most meals now contained meat with little vegetables or fruits. Found foods generally consisted of cans or other processed foods. Those were hard to spread out evenly across twenty-six thousand residents. Unless there were a lot of them. Which there weren't. They were also brought in by hunters and fighters as they ventured out beyond the wall.

The Agriculture department had been hard at work. The rooftop farms were producing crops of potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts and lettuce. It was a start. That success, and the fact that Lestallum had a full-year growing season given its tropical climate, meant that even now, new rooftop farms were being prepared and seeded. Others had been planted but were not yet fruiting.

One building had been identified for indoor gardening. Its entire façade was made of treated glass. Agriculture was working with Construction to remove a lot of the sun tinting from the windows and to install proper lighting and irrigation equipment. Floor by floor, new crops were being planted to increase the variety of fruits and vegetables available.

So, if the residents of Lestallum could last just a few more months, they'd actually have a good, varied diet to look forward to. That, however was a big if. Already, two of the oldest residents had not managed to hold out. One had already died. The other was in hospice at the hospital. Dr. Marin had had to make the tough call to withhold further resources to prolong the resident's life.

Ignis realized they were running out of time. They needed food, quickly, or more would die. To that end, he'd started two new initiatives. Bina was waiting for him as he reached his office. She handed him something smooth as he sat down.

"That's the final draft," she said. "It's laminated, a tri-fold that can fit in a pocket. Eighteen images. Fifteen marked green for edible and three marked red for poisonous. It has been signed off by Agriculture and Medical. We're good to go if you're satisfied."

Ignis folded and unfolded the pamphlet and tested it in his pocked. "I'll have to rely on your judgement, Bina." He took it from his pocket and handed it back to her. "If you were out in the woods with only aflashlight, could you identify those mushrooms?"

"Yes, sir. I think I could."

"Alright, then. Let's put one in the hands of every person who steps outside our gate."

"I'll get right on it."

"And Bina," Ignis said, stopping her from leaving, "are the surveyors here?"

"Just gathering on the second floor."

"Wonderful," he told her. "I'll follow you out."

He left her as she went upstairs and he went down. Harry had done a fine job. In the front half of the second floor was a large table and on that table was a scale model of Lestallum. Every building and street was represented, first in crude manner, lacking detail. But, little by little, he'd replaced the crude constructions with perfect replicas of the real things. George, then, had helped him paint them. Ignis often came here on a Sunday to reinforce his mental image of the city with the tactile data he could glean with his fingers.

Ignis stood at the front of that model, facing the street, parking, and gate. One by one, the surveyors identified themselves and the area they had studied. Six weeks ago, Ignis had sent them to reconnoiter the rest of Lestallum, the city beyond the gates. Each section had been given a grid label.

Fortunately, there was plenty of table left behind the walled city. The grid was marked out with string. Ignis placed his hands on each section of the table as each surveyor gave his or her report. C-2 was the most promising. Intact factory buildings, residential housing above storefronts. Little renovation needed. But it was not contiguous with the walls. C-2 would have to wait.

A-3, on the other hand, was contiguous and had factories. They were not in as good shape. There was little in the way of housing. C-3 had housing but was generally wrecked. There was a huge parking garage, some of which had pancaked on itself. Still, the surveyor reported salvageable car parts and well as items from the residential wreckage. Canned and boxed foods, small appliances, mattresses, furniture. There was a lot of rubble that could be used for building materials.

That was the other shortage facing walled Lestallum. Ignis had wanted to expand the walls for some time, but there wasn't enough large construction supplies with which to do so. Smaller pieces, such as lumber, bricks, and mattresses were now becoming scarce. Newcomers had been forced to sleep on the floor. C-3 then, held promise. And it was contiguous to both the walls and C-2. Ignis was starting to see some possibilities.

B-3, then, completed the picture. While the factories were not move-in ready, they were structurally sound and could be renovated. An office building nearby could be converted into apartments. There were supplies to be found in what wreckage there was, as well.

Ignis listened to all the others then made a decision. Every area surveyed was to be gleaned for supplies. Every usable item that could be removed safely needed to be brought inside the walls. Once these areas were cleared, C-3 was to be demolished. The resulting materials would be used to expand the walls to encompass both C-3 and B-3. B-3 would be repaired to expand needed manufacturing and housing. C-3 would become a farm.

Security was needed to make this happen. Each surveyor had been accompanied by two fighters on their missions. It would take more than their entire Security department to protect all the Construction workers as they took on these projects. Fortunately, Ignis knew someone with an army. And he had just had breakfast with her that morning. Ignis sent an intern to find her and dismissed the surveyors. He returned to his office to wait.

He didn't have to wait long. Bina let him know she had arrived. "Oh, and we'll be able to deliver the pamphlets to the Marshal by morning."

"Excellent," Ignis told her. "Please send Miss Highwind in."

Ignis heard her heels click on the stairs then followed the sound of her steps to his door. "You wanted to see me, Mr. Scientia?"

"Please, call me Ignis," he said. "Join me and do close the door."

Ignis moved from behind his desk, and sat in one of the chairs in front of it. She closed the door as requested. "You missed me so much you had to call me to your office?" she teased as she came to sit down next to him.

He smiled. "Actually, I want something from you."

"Do tell," she said, leaning back. "And what do I get out of this?"

"You get to stay around Lestallum for a couple months or more."

"I like it so far. What do you need?"

"Your army," he told her. "We need to expand. We need more supplies. We can find space and supplies in the city beyond the walls. We've identified where we want to expand. But our people will be vulnerable as they accomplish it. We haven't got enough fighters to defend them all."

"I can't give you my army," she said, flatly. "There are still people out there to save. MTs are still prowling around molesting the survivors. Not to mention the daemons. But I can spare half. I've been thinking of giving the boys more responsibility. This could give me a good opportunity."

Half her army with some of Lestallum's Security could certainly fit the bill. "Could I ask for one more thing?"

"You can always ask," she said.

"We need to become more self-sufficient. Less dependent on irregular resources. We need farm animals, ideally breeding pairs."

"Those are few and far between," Aranea replied. "I can't guarantee anything, but we can keep our eyes peeled. Where will you put them once you have them?"

"In the expansion," he told her. Then he explained his idea in further detail.

"It's ambitious," she said. "But it's a good plan. Now, I want something as well. Sometime equally ambitious."

Ignis sat back. "What would that be?"

"A computer programmer," she replied. She leaned forward as she told him why. Her voice took on some excitement. "What if we could reprogram MTs? We could make them only fight daemons and leave humans alone. Then we'd have more soldiers we wouldn't have to feed."

That piqued Ignis's curiosity. "But they were made from humans. Don't they eat?"

"They are able to get nutrients from daemons. Presently, they do that in production facilities. We've been destroying them when we find them. But I've been thinking they'd make a convenient resource if we could control them."

Ignis liked that idea. As long as no new MTs were made. "Let's go talk to Dara," Ignis said, rising. "How long until your half of the army can be here?"

She followed him out. "Seven airships by the day after tomorrow."

Ignis stopped beside Dara's desk. He could hear her typing. "Dara?"

The typing stopped. "Yes, sir?" she replied. "What can I do for you?"

"We need to find a computer programmer willing to relocate temporarily for an ambitious project."

"I know we have programmers," she said. "Not sure about the relocation part. But I can bring in some candidates."

"Tomorrow morning?" Ignis asked.

"Should be doable."

"Thank you," Ignis said. "Miss Highwind has need of one. They can meet with her."

"Are you staying in town, ma'am?" Dara asked.

"For a few months, at least," Aranea replied.

"The Marshal will be happy to hear that," Dara said. "He's likely to put you to work."

"I'll already be working," Aranea corrected. "But he's welcome to join me."

Ignis bid Aranea goodbye and set off toward Construction headquarters. He wanted to tell them personally that expansion was a go.

Over the next two months, Lestallum proper was picked clean. Nonperishable foods, bags of coffee—sadly, none of it Ebony—, lamps, batteries, car parts, radios, clothing, mattresses and cushions, cell phones, books, freezers, refrigerators, microwave ovens, tables, chairs and one working golf cart all started pouring into the walled city. Those items not claimed by administration were handed out on a lottery system with no one person allowed to win twice. Cell phones were farmed out to various departments. Two for the new EMTs, for example. One went with the EMT on ride-along. Another went to the EMT stationed just inside the gate for emergencies coming in. The golf cart was stationed, with another EMT as driver, at Administration but was used as an ambulance in emergencies. All food and furniture items, clothing and small construction materials were put into supply warehouses to supplement existing stocks. The refugees who had been sleeping on floors now had mattresses and cushions while they waited for bunks and beds.

The destruction of C-3 took another three months. But as it came down, the new walls went up. By six months, the walls were complete. The next phase had already started. That included repair of the electrical grid and lighting systems. Heavy machinery found in A-1 was brought to C-3 in Aranea's airships. Large chunks of concrete floors and foundations were removed for future wall expansions. There was land, then, ready to farm once the lights and irrigation were ready.

Finally, one year after they had started the expansion, Ignis stood with a pair of scissors in front of a paper ribbon. Two cows had been secured and were waiting to be released into a new pasture. C-3 was now Lestallum Farms. The renovation of B-3 was nearly finished. Fourteen hundred Secondary position workers had been identified. Manufacturing would return to Lestallum.

Ignis cut the ribbon to great applause from the gathered crowd. The first piece of the old wall was lifted from its place by an airship. The cows were released into their fenced off pasture. Farming could now begin. Ignis leaned toward Centa, the head of Construction. "You know C-2 is just on the other side of that far wall," he whispered.

"I like the way you think," Centa replied in his gruff voice. "I'll draw up some plans."

"I won't look at them," Ignis replied.

Centa laughed.