Assignment: write part of a story in the form of journal entries.

TUESDAY

The creature I trapped in the café’s security system is like nothing I’ve seen before. A green-scaled deer with a flicking tail and a single sharp horn in the center of it’s head. Reminds me of a qilin, if it weren’t for the horn. Maybe it’s a variant? But why would an Order-class dianwu be running rampant in the Walled City? Order-class is useless to me. I should bring it to Institution. There might be a reward.

WEDNESDAY

Dispatch work is wearing on me. They expect me to be on call at all hours. Like we’re machines, not men. The creature followed me into the kitchen while I took the call. When I told the dispatcher I was already on my way, it snorted loudly and gave me a disapproving look, as if it knew I was lying. This creature puts a real drain on my charge-life, I still don’t know what it is. I need to make an appointment with Institution for a positive ID.

FRIDAY

Those Institution bastards really are something. I went there because I wanted to be a good citizen, and maybe get a nice credit boost for returning a lost dianwu. Instead, I spent an hour on lockdown as a Black Daoshi lectured me on the crime of modifying Institution-dianwu for my own purposes. They were threatening to deplatform me when the scan came back confirming that the creature isn’t in fact a heavily-altered qilin. They let me go, no apology. Well screw them very much. I still have no idea what this creature is.

SATURDAY

How the tables have turned. Institution called, begging me to return the creature. A Luduan, they called it. No dice, because now I’m pissed. First, they threaten me with deplatforming, and now they want it back? I named an exorbitant price and they left. Time to hit the red and white markets. This creature is costing me a fortune in server space, and it’s about time I got return on my investment.

THURSDAY

It’s not a qilin. It’s not what I thought at all. Going to Institution was a mistake. Now they know that the Luduan is in my possession. I won’t run. They can find me anywhere. But I’ll make it hell for them to take it back. I wish I had never met this creature.