Quote: "I'm just a little ball… […]"
Dear Diary,
Sorry for not writing in so long, but I promise to change that, especially with what's happened recently! I just never thought this would happen to me! I just never thought!
Our new king, King Lancer, has allowed me (Me!) to go on the voyage to expand the kingdom! I was so excited that when I enthusiastically thanked him, I almost called him "Dad", though I caught myself. I still find his request for his subjects to call him that strange, but at this point, I don't even care if I have to call him "Poohbah"! I am just that happy!
When the heroes left us not so long ago, there was a certain itch that was gnawing at the back of my spikes! An itch that could only have one culprit— wool. Oo! That was the one material I never liked back at my old job, but weirdly, this wasn't what was causing the itch, for you see, I didn't have any kind of wool clothing on me! "So, what is causing this itch?" I thought to myself, and you know, another thought came to me— the last time I felt something so creepy-crawly were those woolen sweaters the Royals used back in 200X when they shed their winter clothes and boarded the Twilight Strider, sailing through the ice covering those vast, dark waters to symbolize the coming of Spring! And that's when it came to me! It came to me that this itch, this itch is the itch of adventure!
Oh, how I longed to go with them! How I ached to do something other than standing in the castle! You know, mix things up a little, like standing on an island or standing in a lake! Oh, the variety that awaited me!
And it still does, I hope! But, of course, I can't go anywhere without my very best companion, B.B.! Of course, when I asked them to come along, they weren't very enthused by the offer. They said, and I quote, "I'm just a little ball. I don't do much". You know how I can remember that so easily? It's because they say that all the time! All the time! Now, I'm not one to be so forceful, but I told them that it was about time we change that catchphrase to a happy tune! Positive self-esteem starts with a positive attitude! And what better way to have a greater outlook on life than to broaden our horizons! Get to really know what's out there!
It took some coaxing, but finally (finally!) I got them to agree to coming along! Ah, I'm so excited! A friend in tow, the wind in my hair, my trusty scarf on my shoulders! There isn't much more a royal coat rack could ask for!
I should go now! There's a lot to do before the voyage and I must prepare! The next time I write, you will have gotten a promotion! I won't say what it is yet! It's a surprise! Just you wait!
Goodbye for now!
[…]
Month: OO3 Day: xx
Dear LOG Diary,
How are you liking your promotion? I even wrote it in italics to make it extra fancy! I capitalized the "Log", though, just to add emphasis for today as today is our first day out on the sea! I would have written as soon as I entered the boat, but I had my first tussle with sea sickness! What an experience! The boat hadn't even left the shore yet and already I was getting my sea legs!
Even B.B was getting into the spirit of things, rolling around in the boat and whatnot! They claimed that it was just the boat tossing them back and forth, but I could see a hint of a smile in their eyes! We were both off to a great start!
Currently, I'm getting used to the quarters I've been assigned! This boat is a lot bigger than I thought! Much bigger! Even after that little mishap with the fire! Our king seems to have an arsonist for a heart and an iron jar for a stomach, but he means well! I think.
Anyway, the bedr
Sorry! I meant the stateroom! I'm still trying to get used to all this boating lingo! B.B. said there's no real point to learning it, but that's part of the fun~! If we're going to enjoy this trip to the fullest, we have to go all in! Besides, it won't be too hard to remember all the words! They're pretty self-explanatory! Like the Starboard! That's where King Lancer put the supply of Dark Candy (though will I have any, probably not. I'm not one for sweets)! I like the name Starboard, but Starwalker seemed kind of peeved when I told them about it. I wonder why?
Anyway (again, excuse my rambling! I'm just very excited!), the stateroom is much more stateroomier than I could have ever imagined! I wasn't even expecting a room at all! And yet I was still given this wonderfu space! I can't imagine why nobody wanted it! One could stand all day in such comfort!
Other than exploring my room, though, there isn't much to do at the moment! But that's fine! After all, it's these quiet moments that not everyone gets to appreciate! Soon I'll be up to my eyeballs with such exciting things that I won't know what to do with myself! Ha ha! I can't wait!
Everyone is milling around, so I think I'll go and join them! Plus, I want to go see what B.B.'s room's like! I hope it's just as amazing as mine!
Goodbye for now again!
[…]
Month: OO3 Day: xxy
Dear Log Diary,
Hello again! It's been a while since I've last written but I've been so busy with helping the crew that I haven't had the time to even jot down a thought! Talk about a good problem! It's nice to be of some help, holding the lines and
Well, that's really all I've been doing, but it's nice to do something! To be honest, it's been a little boring around here! We've been exploring out here for a while and no land has surfaced yet! B.B.'s been even more of a frowner downer than usual because of it, but that's a good sign! That means they'll be really excited when land does finally show up! And it will! I'm sure it will! We won't be out here for nothing! Don't you worry, B.B.!
Right now, as I'm writing this, it's very early morning, and not one person is awake! Except me and the Captain, just two souls enjoying the early morning beauty! Oh! And you of course, log diary! Drinking in every word I jot down! Ah, everything just seems so much brighter since the heroes dethroned the last king! I'm not sure if my words will do it justice, but I just have to record the beauty of this morning in this log entry! I just have to!
So, the clouds, the clouds are very long and wispy! And there are so many of them! Like someone's throwing a party with a lot of streamers that keep unfurling and unfurling endlessly along a wonderous red canvas!
Oo! I think I even see the moon! Still out during this time of day, huh? Wanting to join our adventure? But at a respectful distance, I see, with that hazy divider between you above and us below!
Oh! The morning just became even more pleasant! The warm air has gotten much cooler! I didn't even notice until now! Isn't it nice when something like that comes as a complete surprise? I've always loved surprises! My scarf was actually a surprise! I was a little sad to see my old one so worn down, but then I got a new one from B.B. and I wasn't sad anymore! Surprises can solve any problem!
Oh! Everyone is up now! Even the Captain has become more lively! See! I was getting a little lonely looking at this beauty here without talking to someone about it, but now a surprise has just sprung up and solved that little problem! I wonder w
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Test Pa e
Hello
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Dea Log Di ry, I am so sorry! I've had to ski over so many of your be utif l pages! They were too wet for me to use! Even n w, the ink se ms to be ru n ng off the e. ut d not worry! Y ur binding is sti l intact and the p es that are dry enou are becoming e n drier with this crisp wind, a much welco ed companion!
Ah.
It left.
Wel , I'm sure that it d not want to overstay its welcome! A fl eting guest here to brin a bit of relief, but too mu h relief can be enough to knock s eone off their stand, which is not ideal for a situation such as this!
Oh! How rude! I'm talking as if you know what happened! And I'm blowing off your own situation as if you did not experience quite the journey! What an adventure it must have been rolling about in the waves, braving the chilly waters, seeing sights never seen by Darkner eyes! What a gift that I can hold you and simply smell the salt of foreign waters! Lady Luck has let our paths cross again! Things are surely looking up!
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Things are much better now!
...
Things could be better
...
Things aren't looking so good. That situation I
we're in… is something I'm not sure how we'll get out of. As I write this, I'm having a harder and harder time being my usual cheery… well… I guess my usual irritating self. B.B had told me that my optimism brings us nothing but trouble. And I agree with them. If not for my excitement, we wouldn't be where we are now. In nowhere.
… The dark is even darker here somehow with nothing but the neon glow of some vegetation. Pinks, greens, blues. Nothing else. It's just very dark and very silent. If time is passing, I can't tell. How do you keep time? There's nothing to keep time with. The horizon stretches infinitely.
… Maybe writing down what happened will keep my mind occupied.
The storm hit hard. I didn't even finish my last thought before one of my crewmates knocked me over. By accident, of course! They were all in a hurry. For the next few minutes all I could see were scrambling feet going left and right, shouting orders at one another, getting the ship ready for impact. I tried to get up on my own but I couldn't do it without help. It wasn't until a large wave hit the side of the boat did I jolt upright and I could go find B.B. I needed to make sure they were safe. We needed to make it through this together!
I hobbled my way about the ship. There was no sight of them on deck. Everyone else was up, but not B.B. I thought they were trapped in the lower deck! So I did my best to make it down there, only to find them in their room alone. I told them there was still time to get to safety (though, did I know for sure there was time or where safety was? No, but I hoped), but B.B only looked at me with that look. That same kind of look I should have been used to, but that time it was… sadder?
More upset?
Lifeless? How else could I put it? There isn't a word deep enough to describe what I saw. But their own words were clear— they were going to stay in that room and wait for the end.
But I wouldn't leave them. Never. But I wouldn't be able to get both me and B.B. to the upper deck before the brunt of the storm finally came. That I knew for sure. So I scooped B.B. up in my spikes and wrapped my scarf about them to keep them secure, and I did what I do best. I stood my ground until the final wave came and capsized the boat. Everything disappeared from my vision after that. And that's all I can remember from then. I don't know what happened to everyone else.
The next thing I know I woke up with a horrible ache on this rock
island
I don't know what it is. An island usually has water surrounding it, doesn't it? But there's only water on one side. The rest of this place seems to go on for ages. It doesn't make sense. And, admittedly, that was my first thought when I woke up until I remembered that I couldn't have landed here alone. Where was B.B? I needed to find them! I needed to make sure they were ok!
I couldn't stand, but I could roll onto my sides, one spike at a time. And that's what I did. Inch by inch. I didn't know in which direction I was going, but if I was moving away from the water, I knew I had to be making progress. The salt that stung my eyes was slowly replaced by the musty earth. My vision flipped between dark sky, dark ground, and dark horizon. I got a spike stuck in the soft dirt several times, but it was worth it. Because I finally found them! Well, I saw my scarf first. But that lump underneath was unmistakably B.B.'s shape. I rolled to them and removed the scarf, asking them if they were ok. I was so happy I cried! … Or maybe some of the salt water had been trapped in my eyes.
But B.B. wasn't as thrilled to see me. Not by a mile.
They rolled away a short distance without a word. I thought that maybe they didn't hear me, so I asked again louder, my own voice scaring me as it echoed suddenly off who knows what. They still didn't answer my question. Instead, they asked me a question… they asked, "Why do you do this? Why do you always do this?" I didn't know how to answer. What did I do? I didn't understand. At the time.
"You always make me go along with these 'big ideas' of yours," they continued. "Always trying to make me be something I'm not. I'm not a guard. I'm not an adventurer. I'm just. A little. Bouncy ball! I'm not meant to do anything but sit. And I was fine where I was until you dragged me out here! Trying to be something you're not. And look where it got us. Look where it got you!"
They jumped on my stand (kind of roughly. It hurt a little…) and I stood to attention, towering over them, but with the scowl they were giving me, I only felt half an inch tall. "You can't even stand up on your own!" they said. "How could you even think that you could survive out here in the world?! Huh?! How?! All you do is pretend! You just pretend!" they said. "You pretend like you're important! But you're not! Neither of us are! People like us aren't meant to go on 'adventures'. We're meant to stay on the side and let the REAL important people do things like that. Not me, and especially not you! When unimportant people try to act important, that's when danger happens. And you are the most dangerous! Always living in your pretend world, thinking you're a coat rack when you're just a simple jack! Even the words you wrote in your stupid journal were pretend! You can't even hold a pen!"
I couldn't hear what else they had to say really. There was more, but my focus was drawn to the pain in my throat and the heat around my face. I'll never tell them how I felt (though I'm not sure if I ever could. They left me, and I haven't seen them for a long time), but I can always be honest with you! I can
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...
They looked down at the journal on the ground, no more than a stack of wet paper. In a few blinks, the words that seemed to flow so freely onto the pages morphed into etches made with mud and neon chlorophyll. They flipped through the pages before to see the same kind of markings marring the printed lines with stains of oil and candy.
They stood there. They stared at the journal. The journal stared back until its view became murky with the water it drowned in. Then they only stood there, their body heaving with each heavy breath. They attempted to bend down, only curving slightly, until they stopped trying and let the water slide down their hunched frame, a small bleb on a dark watercolor canvas. More pressure applied could smooth the nuisance out.
…
But then it moved. Slightly. Barely. But it moved.
Then it slid.
Then it strode, no longer only a piece of the background, but the whole picture.
They dropped to the ground and plunged their head into the cold water, thrashing about until they caught the journal between their teeth. They sunk one spike into the ground and with one great push teetered back out of the water and onto land, the journal landing not far from them. They rolled to it, the light shining in their eyes fiercer than the glow of the vegetation. With the dirt that clotted their frame, they clawed at the paper and 'wrote' their piece.
...
No.
NO. I won't let it end this way for me and my friend! We are still standing here, aren't we? So to speak. Our spirits not ripped asunder. And these words of mine may not be visible, but they are my thoughts that exist! And we exist! We still exist! We still live! My friend may have lost hope, but that only means I will have to hope for the both of us! And I know I can do that! I know it! We just need a pla
LOG DIARY! I've got it! I've got an IDEA! I will send you back afloat! Not haphazardly like before, but with real purpose! Your binding will fair well against the harshest of weather! I know you can make it! Somewhere. I don't know where you will end up, but I am sure that whoever finds you will be a HERO, just as the one who gave you to me had been!
Of course, though, before I send you off, a parting gift. May this scarf keep you warm and dry, my friend.
And to you, Hero, who finds this log diary, I know you will find a way to help! All heroes can do that! They always find a way! The fact that you have my thoughts in your hands means that hope still stands strong. You won't be able to read this, but you will feel it. If Fate has brought my journal to you, then through fate all that needs to be communicated will come through. And we will see you soon! I know it! And when you do, I will be standing here as royally and as coatilly
coating
coteningaely
as a Royal Coat rack should be! Goodbye for now! We will both be awaiting your arrival!
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Perhaps.
Author's Note: Hope you guys liked this one! It's kind of different from what I usually write, but I wanted to try something new. See how it goes.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed another chapter! Any and all feedback is welcome! Until next time!