Friday – 12:35PM
Southern Outskirts – Southern Forest
I am yet here once again, complying with the wishes of my comrades...
Apparently there was an attack on a civilian by some huge-ass scary monster. She didn't see it coming; when the beast was close enough, she turned, saw it and screamed in terror. So the reports say. We found her; NORA found her, knocked out cold in the woods just south of the coast yesterday afternoon. Luckily, she had only fainted...
Once she'd woken up, she'd told my second in command that she was being chased by this large, putrid-smelling monster, like nothing she had ever seen before, and ran like crazy towards the settlement. I doubt the monster was anything that scary or out-of-the-ordinary to warrant all this commotion. Her last memory may have been tripping over, she remembered lunging forward before entering a state of 'complete darkness'.
Well, if I say so myself, civilians shouldn't be out in the surrounding forests in the first place. This sets a good example to any of those thinking of doing the same thing, stemming back to the main reason why we all chose to settle down on the coast. But, this incident though, has created a whole 'nother problem at hand.
Rumors, and a whole lot of scary ones at that. New Bodhum is a small settlement... and news, gets around real quick...
"Ah, crap, now that I think about it... I forgot to bring my lighter again... crap!" I yell, just as I was about to enter my journal again. The journal I had gotten as a birthday gift from my fiancée two years ago; the same journal I had never used up until now.
Do I really have to go all the way back to the settlement? ...No, next time I'll definitely bring it. Screw it. A hero shouldn't be out doing this crap anyway. He should be out fighting hordes of monsters! A fat-ugly-scary monster perhaps, or be in the company of his sexy bride-to-be. But, no...
In reality, the hero's gotta do the one job nobody else wants to do. Though, I'll give the job this much... it's a job that requires a good amount of strength, an acute awareness of one's surroundings, but most of all: loads of endurance.
"Find a nice place far away from the settlement as to not attract critters or create smell... Make sure no hostiles are around... Empty the bags... Pour gasoline over offending objects... Light with lighter, and run far, far away." Sigh. I stop wheeling and raise my elbows into the air, mood: deflated.
It's a shame, I can't use my l'Cie powers anymore. This would make things a hell of a lot easier. But without a lighter... crap, I guess I'll just head over to that place again. Crap.
Friday– 1:11PM
Southern Outskirts – Water Expanse
Doing this job always makes me feel like crap. I hate it more than Yuj's 'post-trending' sense of fashion... or dare I say it, Gadot's terrible foot odour. Sorry guys, but I'm in a bit of a bad mood. I feel like spewing a bit now actually...
Although thankfully, the peg is on. I can barely smell the ton of bags I've been wheeling around the past hour, which would've definitely pushed me over the edge.
That's right, barely. Even with this thing blocking both airway passages, the smell is so bad it still manages to reach my senses, Etro!
I'd rather be out with the search team led by my second: Mr Footstench, searching for that alleged monster. In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if I'd bumped into Gadot by now... The "monster" was here around this area. North-East of this huge inland water expanse.
I hope it attacks me actually. ...anything just to get my mind off the task at hand, and get the blood pumping!
Being a man of action, this job forces me to contemplate about things, which I hate... Most of the time. If it wasn't for the constant reminder of the garbage behind me, I'd be solely thinking about the love of my life, my bride-to-be, my everything; Serah... and her sexy lingerie.
Yep, that's all a hero thinks about these days... I now can't wait to get back home and greet her with big, muscly arms and kisses... Right after a hero's shower of course. Maybe two or three.
If you are reading this: I love you, Serah...
"Well, here I am. Mount Catastrophe, as I've called you. Up you go, and... Bleh!"
*cough* *cough*, "Bl-..."
...
...
"Ah f-sh-man! That was a close one..."
Minutes later after nearly vomiting, I look over at the rubbish heap I've created with now three months of forgotten rubbish. From over here, with the glint of the sun, the rubbish heap kinda looks like a gelatinous monster. A flan... A giant flan of garbage. And with the recent additions to it...
"I shall now call you Mount... Flannage. Yeah... sick as."
Yep. For until I remember to bring my lighter... I'll hide you. I gently place a giant leaf over the head of the monstrosity and walk away from the hiding spot.
"Now to go home, find Serah and do what hero's do best!" I triumphantly beat my chest.
"Why don't you let me in some of the action?" calls out a familiar voice, hidden deep within the dense forest canopy. "And you should stop talking to yourself too... me and the boys are starting to worry!"
"Gadot!" I call back. "You piece of shit! I told you I don't swing that way, so stop including yourself in my sex life!"
Gadot makes himself visible, appearing behind an outstretched tree trunk. "What kind of reaction was that? I was only joking." He states.
"I had the perfect image of me and Serah in my head, until you and your ugly head appeared in it."
"Hey, hey now Snow. I'm only joking. Just easing the tension y'know." He points a thumb towards the other NORA soldiers which appear behind him. Four of them. I wasn't really mad at Gadot.
"Anyway," I reconcile. "Any luck with things?"
"Not a single critter fitting the description." Gadot replies, now sitting down on a large, fallen log. "However... they-we did get caught up in a nasty ambush."
"Hostiles?" I ask, before looking over them for injuries.
"Gornospidos...?" He answers, and I look at him puzzled.
"They were Gorgonopsid, Commander," calls out one of the soldiers, with a firm salute. Must be from PSICOM.
"As Commander, I hereby command you not to call me commander anymore," I joke. "Anyway, as long as nobody's injured, we're fine. Just remember, they are nasty critters with nasty teeth and speed, so be mindful if one's far, and near." I add, then ease up at the thought of prospective early-morning training. "Furthermore, you'll all also have to redo the training course provided. They may be fast, but they are nothing compared to the actually threatening monsters we ex-l'Cie used to stand toe-to-toe with." I raise my arm to them, looking over where that silly tattoo used to be.
"Awwwwwwwww" they all cried out in unison. They must not like my training course.
"They're very fast!" one agitated soldier comments. "Before I knew it, I could smell its breath and it was chewing on my gun, reaching for my flesh! Luckily I drew it out in time..."
"That's the reflexes of a soldier, of one who can protect others." I say with a grin. "More training and confidence can help you do even more than that."
"Snow..." Gadot had directed such firm eyes at my direction. "Did you take care of it?"
He must've remembered why I'm here. The four NORA foot soldiers look at each other quizzically, wondering what my second had meant by that. He had to just change the subject, didn't he...
"I took care of it..." I reply, as I step away, with my arms raised in the air, with a slightly higher pitch to my voice... Like I was lying... Crap.
"Hmm." He replies, and simply that.
"Well anyway, we better get going." Gadot continues. "I assume you're going back to the settlement, to meet with Serah..." He now walks up to me and pats me on the shoulder.
"Well, do it for your old buddy." He winks.
He chuckles, walks away with his squad, and leaves me alone with the remark. The bastard...
...Damn, I can't recover from that...!
"You f***ing basta!-"
"AAHH!" yells a soldier, following gunshots.
Gadot's squad had just been attacked. Instinctively I run over towards the one soldier beyond a large fern plant who is grounded.
"What happened?" I yell, as I alert the man on his shoulder that I was here.
"M-monster..." He points up towards a small space beyond some trees and large ferns.
"What..."
I look up and see it. The monster.
From where the soldier's bullets entered its flesh, it leaks gooey... objects, probably its lunch covered in weird-colored blood. Was it threateningly injured?
"What the hell is that thing?" I yell. All the soldiers including Gadot had their guns pointed towards the gigantic beast. The downed soldier and I were the closest to it.
"Well... we'll find out once it's dead!" cries Gadot. "Retreat, Snow!"
He launches an entire magazine into its bare stomach. All the other soldiers join in the hellfire. I cover my closest ear and run out of range with the dazed soldier in tow. Seconds later, I hear all the hollow clicks of my men's firearms.
"Did you get him?" I yell. From what I could see, the number of holes in the beast had dramatically increased, and so did the amount of leakage. It had to be hurt by that.
"Commander..." voices the presumably retired PSICOM soldier, "It... the monster seems to be... shrinking."
"What?" I blurt out. He is right. I guess at this point it must've been some giant flan. Some giant flan springing to attack and deal heavy amounts of damage! My men're still reloading, this is all happening too fast.
I have to do something. I have to attack. But why do I feel I have forgotten something important? Why does this beast look sort of familiar?
"Oh no you don't!" I yell. No time to think.
I run in towards the shrinking, leaking beast that has been terrorizing our settlement. I had to end this once and for all, with all my power!
I had to be the hero.
"Snow, don't do it!" yells out Gadot as I jump in the air. It was too late.
"AAAGGH!" I cry. I shove my fist into its belly with the confidence of one who used to have powers of a l'Cie.
It gurgles. And then, it envelops me entirely in its massive counterattack.
Saturday – 9:59 AM
New Bodhum – NORA House
The terrifying legend of the monster was quelled by NORA when the monster itself was exterminated and exposed to the public yesterday.
A new subspecies of flan was discovered, local scientists named it the "Human Waste Flan", and it is believed to be, incredibly, man-made. It is the result of the improper disposal of a monumental amount of waste in such a "raw, brilliant, foreign ecosystem". It's believed to be able to attack its victims even while remaining completely stationary, with its horrifying stench and the various hallucinogenic effects it creates.
With this discovery, I believe the whole event's outcome was a positive thing for our community to embrace. The reminder to keep a proper maintenance over perishable and used items, and yada yada.
With their fears dismissed, the populace was once again at relative peace.
My fiancée tells me she's glad I'm finally making use of this journal. And then goes to say that I always seem smarter on paper than I do in real life. That the difference is sometimes like night and day. It surprises me too in fact. So thank you again, for that, my everything...
That being said though, I have to write to you all about something. Since that day, there has been this nightmare that's been haunting me every night.
I am out in the forest with my closest friends enjoying the fresh air and beating up some Spiceacilians. The flowers are in full bloom and Gadot's foot stench has disappeared with the wind.
And there it is.
That decisive battle... a soldier falls to the floor, his guts half splattered on the once crisp green grass. There stood the beast of my fears, the conjugator of my terrors, the flora around it withered and crushed into ash.
My allies fire and fire, but the bullets have no effect. The beast is ready to attack, presumably. Did it move? Didn't it move? Was the beast I know all too well to be of human error... Was it alive?
My legs start moving on their own. I charge courageously towards the beast. I could see it in its entirety. The lives of everyone I held dear were at stake. I disregard everything, and attack with my full strength.
Nothing happens. And then once again, I'm encompassed with complete darkness...