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Vella had left and Titan was busy with developing his strain. Kink had used lots of effort to make the generations pass quickly and with only three months of work, the strain had become very stable.
"This is about the same as last time. All the plants are pretty much uniform and all of them look fantastic. I'm a bit bummed out that another one like Honey didn't appear but at the same time, I am a little relieved. Could you imagine, a world populated by Honey's?" Titan put his hat on and opened the door.
They were done for the day and harvesting tomorrow wouldn't harm anything. The plants had plenty of weight to them and with the exception of the continuation of the strain itself, it was like everything they had wanted to do was already completed. Titan felt dissatisfied, his steps grew louder.
Kink noticed how heavy his steps had become, it was obvious that Titan was bothered by something. "Hey. You're being quiet, what's all that about?"
"It's just.. well, this was sort of fun and now that the strain is stable, it's hard to decide where to go from here. I think it's going to be a long time before I figure it out too." Titan stopped in the stairwell and took a dab. Putting the fire crystal nectar collector away, he blew the smoke into the hall. "I like making medicine, it's sort of rewarding but I don't have a talent for treating illnesses. I thought about taking up alchemy."
"That's a scary thought. You're constantly working to solve problems, I'm afraid you'll find a rabbit hole and not come back out." Kink threw open the door and led the way.
Inside of Kink's office, Titan sat in a chair and looked at some paintings that were on the wall.
Kink saw his listless gaze and coughed, breaking his absent mindedness. "You're good with plants, you seem to know what it takes to pick and choose and segregate.. like a farmer."
"I'm not a farmer, in truth, if it wasn't for several fortunate encounters, I would have had a terrible outcome early on. I like plants and plants I grow seem to be healthy but they don't grow like yours do. That is what's really scary. You could grow an army's food supply, on a whim, in a day." Titan shook his head.
"Lets try this, why don't you start working on specialty plants and weed out the weaker, less prominent of specimen. The Keenan trees won't appreciate it at first but they seem to love order.
"That means spending a lot of time in the Garden. I'm not that kind of guy. I like plants but I'd rather be the guy out there collecting them and coming back. Raising them is better suited for someone else, especially since I can't increase their growth rate to an abnormal rate." It was a light jab at Kink's overpowered nature abilities but Kink didn't care, Titan was right to say so.
Kink's expectations were fairly high and he would always push for something a bit more involved. Work Ethic never had issue in his mind, he was always a very polished worker. It was one of the reasons he had gotten into the Armed Forces.
"I wouldn't mind taking on a Teacher.." Titan grinned and his teeth beamed.
"Teach what? I don't know shit about this either, my gift and natural talent for marking my own situation better is what led me to where I am. It's a bit shameful to brag about but look at me now, if I wanted to do something outlandish, who would dare stop me if I wasn't murdering."
"Well.." Titan twisted his smile into a smirk.
"Well what? It's not like I'm an evil person. I go out and help people all the time but there is a limit to charity. I already donate lots of my time and energy to the City Council, a position I didn't want or need. It gave me power and as such, it's kept me in a favorable light with people who would otherwise view me with contempt as an outsider." Kink spread his hands and gestured.
Titan paused and did his best not to make light of what Kink had said, "Governance of a City can be difficult, I had my own problems when Lonestar City first started. In truth, a lot of my success is in no small way due to the people around me, as well as my own fortunate encounters."
The both paused when they realized that they had just patted themselves on the back. It made them laugh and Lisetya came inside the Office just then.
"The Shop is closed for the day, I've already locked the front doors after sending the others away. So, what's the progress?" Lisetya sat on Kink's lap.
"We could call it complete. I'd still like to culture a round of seeds from the clone Honey left behind but I'm afraid it would cause too much of a stir if it made it to the public and now that she's much more self aware, Honey may not like the idea of being cloned." Titan spoke freely about the situation but Lisetya was somewhat the same, she created more of her species by absorbing energy. The process of sentience was a matter of prospective, she could easily argue that birth, doesn't mean sentient thought.
Honey was definitely alive but when she came into existence, she was still a plant, completely unaware and innocent in the world. Her own understandings of life were just too simplified and filtered, reproduction was her primary drive but all of that changed, with a clone.
"Haha.. I just thought of something." Kink laughed.
"Vella's flying there with my Dimensional Key but you still have yours. If you went into the pocket space, then left out of the key that Vella had, you could teleport, in a way. I bet you've got some unfinished business and frankly, I'm sure the City Council will be glad to have my attention." Kink spoke politely, he didn't want give the wrong impression.
Titan saw Kink tiptoeing around a subject and said it outright, "If I leave, I'm coming back and I still intend to spread Cannabis around this world one day. No one can change that, I can feel it."
"Your confidence is inspiring." Kink wanted to laugh but it would have been rude.
"Confidence, I've got that." Titan swung his fingers across the brim of his hat and stood at the door. "I'm headed to the Auction House, they don't close for another hour or so."
"Sounds like fun, I have to go over sales and manage things here but I'll see you in the morning." Kink waved his goodbyes and sank into his work.
Titan had gone down the hallway and was already close to the door to the stairwell down.
Lisetya sank into the shadows below the desk and Kink leaned back in his chair.
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Vella flew clear across the Ocean, it was hard to tell which direction to go but the three day journey across was nothing compared to the snails pace of sailing on the water.
The smell of salt water was nice but it offered little in the form of entertainment. A full day of flying was boring enough but she and the Brolga had flown for three days already, when a distant shoreline came into view, she was thrilled that she hadn't been lost.
It was easy enough for her to maintain a direction during the daytime, the rising and setting of the suns was a clear indicator of east and west. Vella landed with the Brolga and sent it on it's way, they were sea birds and going too far inland wasn't the best option for it's survival. The Brolga had gotten her to her destination, even saved her weeks of waiting and poor company, it deserved it's freedom.
Vella stole a feather from it and kept a drop of it's blood before sending it off.
The bird howled in dejection as it fled but Vella wasn't bothered. She stored the items away and spread her own wings. She was fast, much faster than the Brolga but she didn't want to sleep on the water or fly for a whole day at a time.
Lonestar City was still hundreds of kilometers across some rugged terrain. The Airspace above those locations was just as deadly, sometimes the danger was even greater than the ground itself. Flying a few hundred kilometers was just a morning stretch, Vella had conserved her energy for three days, she was ready to end the monotony.
The air whistled through her ears and wings as she flew. The cool air gave her a reminder of home, the girls and the casino life. It was a time in her life she would never forget.
When she arrived, below in Lonestar City, what looked like a festival was taking place.