This is Not a Diary, It is a Beaker!

[Piefan]

Author's note
This is, in essence, a side-story to the EoM in my signature, starting several years ago - thirty or so. As such, the world here will be slightly different to that! If there's any coutry that doesn't develop in decades... that's just too bad.

To that end, the above sounds like the kind of thing I would say in a business report. Therefore, to make up for it, lol yolo fml selfies #everything.

If you want to discuss this, you could post here, but I'd prefer if you post in the fanclub

Characters
Acrost Staccato - a poet named after acrostic poetry.
Althea ??? - nobody knows her last name.
Sawyer Jupiter - an artist and farmer.
Amirah Bohong - a charming cat.

Setting info
This country faces several differences to the one in EoM, among them:
-Most people, save for cats, are driven mostly by instinct.
-Ages of characters... Obviously.
-Technology is less advanced... kind of 1970's or so? Computers exist, but are very rare.

Stories I enjoy
The Lucky Horseshoe - I've talked to TheFabulousHorse before, and she's really nice. ^^ I'm sure you read don't read stories for the authors' personality, though, so moving on to the review of the story: This revolves around the life of a dog named Pony - strange, but then, I've named my characters Reef before - and, within a page or so, Dakota's Wildfire, a pet horse who communicates telepathically. I won't spoil anything more, but I'll tell you that the writer has a gift for plotting.

Summary
One moonless night, given vision solely by the flickering flames of several candles, a dog picks up her journal and begins to write. Her story is one of greed on her part and that of others. It is of sadness and misery. It is one of hatred, regret, and bias. Despite all this, it is also one of truth. And at that moment, she feels that is all that matters.

Twenty years later, long after she has found peace, her son finds the diary. Absently, given sight by the moon and the flame in front of him, he begins to read it.

[Piefan]

Apollo sat by the fire, watching its embers fly about. It mesmerised him - how it flickered and licked the air unsteadily, ever-changing. Flicking his tail, he stood and turned away. He should have been snoring by then, but camping so far away from his family seemed strange, and sleep impossible.

He picked up his bag, which was beside him, then sorted through it in boredom. While he was not expecting to find anything different from whatever he had already seen, the action was mildly soothing. Apollo smiled as he pulled out a book - his diary, if he had been correct. As he opened it, however, he immediately recognised the cursive handwriting - it was not his.

~★~

Congratulations, little book. You're now my diary. I write this in the middle of the night, though I'm oddly not sleepy. All the light I have is given out by candles' flames... The government doesn't want us to waste electricity with electric lights when just writing unnecessarily.

Weirdly referring to you with actual second-person pronouns aside, I think an introduction's in order, right? I'm Althea, seventeen-year-old canine and part butterfly wolf.

That's me, in my usual outfit. The rose is a little gift from a friend - probably meant to be clipped to my head, but I don't think that's possible. If you didn't notice, I'm actually larger than the usual dog, since I guess my B-wolf origins shone through, and my wings don't work. At the most I can just glide a little and flap them around to prevent an overly painful fall. I'm not sure how BWs can actually fly - that should be scientifically impossible.

And as for you... As long as I'm treating you like a person, I guess I should describe you too. You're bound with dark purple covers, rough yet pleasant-looking, and a picture of a flask - the usual 'scientific stuff' type - on you. I might name you after that, if I were that weird. Imagine how strange it would be to explain you to people. "Hang on, I just need to write this in my beaker."

Now then, I just spent about two paragraphs on that intro, so I should probably be moving on. I'd elaborate on more about Alinia, but it's not like people from a different universe will be reading this, so I don't think that'll be necessary.

Tomorrow, school begins, and I'll be seperated from my family. I've never been to boarding school before, which worries me. Not because of the 'no family' thing - they're honestly annoying - but I'm not sure if I can pack properly. I wrote up a list, but still.

I also heard it has a... caste system, for lack of a better word. Wolves are seriously revered, and they group the students according to the stereotypical pack. There's Alphas and Betas and Omegas. From what a neighbour told me, though, most just call them Populars, Jocks, Nerds, and Outcasts.

My feelings on this are complicated, but suffice to say I don't think I can manage to get into Populars, nor Nerds. (Jocks is male-only, for good reason.) I mean, I do adore science and all, but, what, are they going to place a test in front of me? Doubtful.
____
yep. This is Apollo's mother. She has a strange tendency to talk to inanimate objects, especially books and such, thus the reason she seems to constantly say things that she might to a real person. She's not anywhere near to insane - she doesn't actually think of them as real people, nor does she expect them to respond. She's just her.

Remember, this is about twenty years ago. Meaning Alinia's going to be hella different.

[Piefan]

Guess what happened today. Here's a hint: they placed a test in front of me. I guess I shouldn't tempt fate, really, but still. What were the odds of that happening?

Anyway, my dear beaker-diary, I feel like I ought to go into detail about this stuff. I arrived in school an hour early, though it was no use. As it turns out, everyone either arrives right on the dot or a few minutes late. My school doesn't lock its gates, though, so I entered the grounds and waited on a bench until the rest came. I couldn't just enter my dorm; I didn't have a key.

First, after thirty minutes, came this dog, smaller than me. Almost everyone is, really, but he more so. He sat beside me, not seeming to notice I was even there before I spoke. I don't have much multicoloured ink right now - nobody really manufactures it - but I think I have enough. A diary's special, after all, and I don't think I'll need pink ink elsewhere anytime soon.

"Um, hello. How're you doing?"

"What? Oh... Fine. My name's Acrost Staccato."

"Nice to meet you then, Mr Staccato."

"No, just Acrost is fine."

"Alright, Acrost. My name's Althea." I took his paw and shook it. He seemed uneasy - shyness? - but he didn't voice it.

We continued sitting there silently for a while more, until the hallway filled up and the bell rang to mark the official beginning of school. Then I heard someone cry out to us.

"Hey! Everyone gather in the hall!"

... I really feel like I should have figured that out earlier. Either way, I did as told, ignoring Acrost for now as I darted up the stairs. About a hundred or so people were there, in the seriously crowded room. A wolf stood on the stage, a microphone in her paw. I instinctively filed her as a principal.

"Good morning, my students. Welcome to Captiosus College. With that said, no more shall I dwell on this. I am Miss Alison, your school principal. As part of our curriculum, you will be placed into groups that you shall then stay in for the rest of the year, or until you prove that you do not belong." She paused here to take a breath, then she quickly added, "Of course, we do not think of any one of you as inferior to the others due simply to your habits. We all have our strengths and our flaws."

"Damn this speech is long." I heard someone say this from the crowd, though Alison ignored it.

"This is for no reason than to ensure you will mingle with those whom you have things in common with. Birds of a feather stick together - how indeed can one make friends among those who are utterly different?"

"That logic is astounding."

"Now, you shall be given a quiz to test among whom you belong. Please answer honestly."

She walked away, and then these little quizzes were given out. I'm afraid I don't have them right now, so you won't be able to see them, Beaker. Sorry about that, I guess. As I walked up to the front of the room to pass mine up, I bumped into someone else - a black-and-white dog.

"Dang, girl. Careful." His tone was friendly, though, rather than rude.

"Yes, yes, I understand. It's nice to meet you, though would you kindly move out of the way?"

"Oh, right. My name's Sawyer, by the way."

"And I'm Althea."

And then he moved out of the way. I trotted to the front of the room, where a cat was standing, staring at me as I came by. I placed the slip into her box before I walked off cheerfully, seeing Sawyer once again. He waved to me, and I did the same.

The dorms have been assigned at this point, and I think they're based on something, but the principal still refuses to tell us our results for the quiz. She says we'll be better off finding out when our time comes. My room partner still isn't here yet, but I bet she will be soon.
____
I JUST RANDOMLY BEGAN CHANTING SONG LYRICS IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS AND I CANT STOP PLUS I ONLY KNOW FOUR LINES OF THE SONG BECAUSE IT'S IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE WHY AM I SUDDENLY SO OBSSESSED WITH DIKIR BARAT HEELLP

Anyway, I'll be accepting some characters and stuff here - why not? Here's the form:

Code: Select all

[b]Name:[/b] [color=grey]xx[/color]
[b]Gender:[/b] [color=grey]xx[/color]
[b]Group:[/b] [color=grey]xx[/color]
[b]Overall:[/b] [color=grey](Personality, relationships, etc. Magicians are generally almost impossible - though there are the type of people who use sleight-of-hand - but elemental spirits [air, water, earth, fire, light, shadow] aren't)[/color]

Detail is fine and encouraged - I find it easier to work with a 'confident, but quiet, scholar who adores classical music and despises anyone who distracts him from his work' than a 'quiet guy who likes learning'.

[retroaqua]

( sorry about my stupid PM ) I totally support this! Make more, p lease?

[Piefan]

Thanks! :D And I'll definitely be making more, I'm in the middle of writing the next entry right now!

[retroaqua]

Thanks! And I'll definitely be making more, I'm in the middle of writing the next entry right now!

Sweet! Can my pets be entered as new animals? They are dressed badly ( blame me being half noob ) but idk.

(( My favorite character is Reef. Apollo comes second. Then Henry. Lucy is a bit dramatic still.. BUT WHO CARES? ^^ ))

[Piefan]

Yeah, Reef's actually one of my favourites too... Henry comes second.

And yep! Literally none of my characters here are dressed anyway, so I don't think it matters. :P Just fill in the form and I'll add the pets in whenever I can.

[retroaqua]

Name: Cinnamon
Gender:Female
Group: Nerd
Overall: She is kind, but very shy. She has no relationship, not even a friend. She loves to read, but when with friends she is the most cheerful, derpiest person EVER!!
( I changed the color. Wow. )
(( Btw, Cinnamon will bring a CAT into the stuff. Let me just get her picture.. ))

[Piefan]

It's hard to make certain curses and insults CS-friendly... Of all the phrases I have ever coined, 'stick in place of a tail' sounds like the worst.
_____
Apollo paused, shutting the book for just a moment. He recognised the pictures - it was a story of his parents... Did he really dare to read it? It seemed so awkward... so cruel, to read something so personal. And he - oh, who was he kidding, he had never really given a damn.

~★~

So, Beaker - um, diary - today I received the results for my quiz. I got into Nerds, somehow. Life's weird. I mean, giving an explanation on soundwaves and how sound energy is made (well, converted, I guess, since you can't really create energy) in response to an open-ended question about music does so not make me a 'genius'. Not that I'm against being one, but come on! I bet you could do that too, right, Diary? It's ridiç----

... Sorry about that, I had to stop and hide you. Roommate just came in. And she's a cat - pretty surprising, to be honest. Here, it's mainly canines; not so much felines and stuff like that. Still, she seems nice enough. Here's our conversation, summarised:

"Oh, hello. I'm to understand you're Althea, correct?"

"Yes, that's me. Cryptographer and chemist, Althea- Wait, sorry. I do tend to ramble. What's your name?"

"Amirah. Amirah Bohong. Quite an unfitting name, I do like to think, but others believe otherwise. Regardless-" she sat down on the bed beside mine, "-it's nice to meet you. You're part of... Nerds? I'm one of the Populars. They asked me to pass you this message, so here."

I frowned; her demeanour seemed to be... strange. One moment she was all formal and stuff, the other she was friendly. It was like she wasn't sure how to behave or something. Weird.

Still, I don't think it's worth dwelling on. After that conversation, I decided I'd go to the coffee shop nearby. Just to be polite, I offered her something, but she declined. I sit here now with a cup of expresso (best beverage ever!) and a muffin, since the food here is terrible.

As for the message? It's basically an apology for 'placing me with a most likely incompatible partner'. I don't know about that, she seems pretty nice, in her own way. A little aloof, though - after the introduction, she didn't talk to me at all, even when she was inside. Heck, a horse who doesn't even live in the same dorm as me was more sociable.

Aforementioned horse showed up outside my room just as I returned from the coffee shop trip, and from my estimations, she was the same age as me. Still, I'm sure you don't want to hear about age guesses. Here's the conversation we had:

"Hello. I'm guessing you're Althea?"

"Yep, that's me. How'd you gue-" And then I noticed the obvious poster in front of the room labelling its inhabitants. "Never mind. And you're?"

"I'm Alia Russet. Nice to meet you; I've never met a butterfly wolf before. Or half butterfly wolf, for that matter." She laughed merrily. "Wanna come into my room? Sure beats standing outside."

"Sure. My roommate doesn't seem like the kind of person who would tolerate two loud girls hanging in her dorm."

"You mean Amirah? I'm not surprised. Knew her a few years ago and she seemed to have a stick in place of a tail."

I refrained from asking what that even meant. Horses' traditions and lingo are far different from dogs', and I didn't think I'd really want to know anyway. I got detective work - including cryptograms and forensics and autopsies - as one of my subjects, but we'll mainly be working on canine-like stuff.

As we entered her room, I saw another dog sitting on the bed, reading a novella. (Or novel. I'll never really be sure...) She didn't even look up, so I'm assuming it was a pretty good book. Once Alia coughed loudly, though, the dog seemed to finally notice us.

"Morning, Cinnamon. Would you mind...?"

[color=#40000]"No, it's fine. Just don't make too much noise or I'll seriously get myself moved to another room."[/color]

"Great! So, Althea..."

Cinnamon, as I'm guessing her name is, didn't say another word, continuing to read. Alia, meanwhile, asked me plenty stuff about being a B-wolf, and flight, and stuff. I didn't have much to say to her, since my butterfly genes were really slight and I can't really fly much at all, but she didn't seem to be disappointed.

Bye, beaker diary. The rest of my day should be spent unpacking and revising my textbooks (along with probably having some dull conversation), so I don't think I'll really have much to say until tomorrow.
____
I JUST LOST THREE QUARTERS OF THIS AND HAD TO REWRITE IT.

And I'm still in barely enough health to write anything cohorent... I had to check over it four times as I tried to pick off mistakes.

[retroaqua]

Piefan, this is a great idea!

Cinnamon loves to write in diarys (( As seen on my own Diary Story, )) So can she have her own?

Apollo can't read it (( DUH )

I'm just thinking about Lychee and the others diarys.

Can this be like that?