# Diary of a Wimpy Fish- Phaistos



## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Hey, all! I thought I would try my hand at a betta story and see what you think. :3 It's about Phaistos, and I'm sure some of you have seen me talking about him lately, about how much of a dork he is. I'm very sorry if my writing isn't currently up to par, I've been NaNoWriMo-ing like crazy and I needed a break, so this is what I did. I think my brain is a little burned out. -_- But anyway, this is what I came up with: 

I'm actually freaking out right now. Like, about to lost my mind kind of freaking out. Let me explain. There is this girl that sits across the room from our tank underneath a fuzzy white blanket that looks like it could be the biggest bubblenest any of us have ever seen- I'm frankly quite jealous, if she managed to make that many bubbles. She is quite larger than us, though, so maybe that could explain it? But anyway, every so often throughout the days, this girl will get up out from under her soft bubbles and come up to the glass. She bends down- she's pretty tall- and these two blue eyes sit right at the water line and survey the conditions inside. I'm not about to give her the satisfaction of swimming up to greet her either, as Harmonia and Spiridion so readily do. I swam up about half the length of the tank and then darted back again, just to taunt her. That'll show her. But today, she's quite talktative.

"Phaistos," She said, and my eyes turned toward her warily, "I like your nest, boy. Too bad Harmonia's not looking, huh?" 

I swam right up to her and flared with all the hurt she had just struck into me. Of course it was too bad Harmonia wasn't looking! God knows I spend all the time I can trying to catch that female's attention! Harmonia is right across the divider from me. There are several plants that block our view of one another, but near the top and front of the tank, we can see each other through the mesh. Harmonia is probably the most beautiful female I've ever laid eyes on. There used to be three others there with her. Seeing the way she took charge of them and kept them in line was what initially made me admire her. Then, when the mousy little red and green girl decided she was jealous of Harmonia's cream colored scales and blue irridescence and the big fight broke out, seeing Harmonia handle herself among the squabbling was inspiring. That was when my affection for her really soared. 

The human girl's eyes got a bit sad looking at me flare at her. "Oh, come on boy, I dont want baby bettas." 

Instantly embarassed by the mention of children, I darted away and squirmed behind my cave, between the white ceramic and the glass where it was dark and calm and I could gather my thoughts. Harmonia had been up at the glass trying to get the human's attention when the incident happened, so I'm sure she had heard the comment about babies. I could die of embarassment! When I swam back to the cave and made myself compact behind it, though, Harmonia darted back there with me. She swam right up to the divider behind the pot in her side of the tank and in front of the heater and looked me right in the eyes. I froze up. Stared back at her with my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open. 

"Are you going to be allright?" She asked, looking back at me with an amused smile. 

I tried to pick up what was left of my dignity and flared my fins up for her. "Of course! That girl just scared me, is all. She tapped the glass." 

Both of us knew full well she didn't tap the glass, but neither of us called out my white lie. Across the ten gallons Harmonia inhabited, I heard Spiridion faintly laughing at me. I couldn't be bothered with him, though. I chose not to respond to him. Harmonia turned to her side and looked at me out of the corner of her eye with her beautiful fins spreading slowly, but testily in response to my flaring at her. My eyes counted the rays, which started a shade of deep cobalt blue and faded clear by the tip of her fin. As I scanned along the length of her anal fin, my eyes came to rest of her ovipositor, and I could have just keeled over belly up. She didn't really respond other than to smirk at me and quickly swim off. I hung my head. 

_Way to go, Phaistos..._ I told myself, and slinked out from behind the cave to go back to work on my bubblenest. The human girl was back again, this time talking to Spiridion. He had his golden fins spread out wide for her and wiggle danced like he was born solely for her entertainment. The only reason I didn't try swimming right over there to show him what for was because I already had my nice territory set up over here. He had his, I had mine, and there was a beautiful lady between us that I was more interested in than him. I took a breath and blew a bubble along the edge of my nest. I already felt myself calming down. This was good. I was so immersed in blowing bubbles that I didn't even notice the tube. The girl came and lifted the lid on the hood of the tank. I swam up to the lid, hoping for some food. Instead, she leaned her face over and looked down into the water with a bit of a frown. A few curls fell over her shoulder, and Harmonia tried to jump at them. The girl laughed and tucked them behind one ear. I saw her lower the tube in the water, and I instantly panicked. I knew what that was! She was going to siphon water out of the tank! 

Although I was glad we were getting clean water, I was panicked for my nest! I swam up underneath it and darted back and forth worriedly. The girl started the siphon and I felt myself bob lower and lower as the water drained out into a large white bucket. As I looked up, my nest was sliding up the glass wall of the tank. I jumped for it. I couldn't think of anything else to do to protect it! But as the water level drained by about a third, I could no longer see any of my bubbles in the water. They were all on the glass. And I was freaking out.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

That's good! Nice writing.


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks, fishman. Lol. It's totally a true story, I just added a little dialogue between the two. He's such a character. xD I'll probably write more and keep it going. I just have to rifle through that journal of his some more... Lol. >.<


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## TequilatheBetta (Apr 5, 2011)

Wow that's really good  Keep on posting!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Ha. Yeah. Hope you find some good material.


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

A'ight, guys, I'mma go ahead and make a new post. It's Walking Dead night, though. So.... I'll be watching last week's rerun while I type. Lol... Well, here we are!

By the time the girl returned with the bucket of fresh water, I had started to seriously wear myself out trying to get to my nest. She spotted my frantic activity and peered around to my side of the tank. Her eyes came to rest on my nest, and I darted quickly from side to side underneath it. 

"Oh, geez, buddy, I'm sorry." She frowned. She stood back up at the front of the tank, and started to pour the water. 

She was moving her mouth, but I couldn't hear her over the rushing of water pouring into the tank. The current was gentler than normal, though.She had poured the water in very slowly, and my eyes lit up as I saw my nest float back up to the top of the tank, intact and beautiful as ever. I waited for her to stop pouring, and watched her squeeze several drops from a bottle into the flow of water that fell out of the filter. When she was paying attention again, I fixed my eyes on hers and blew a bubble of thanks. She just waved one finger at me and turned back around to go to her nest. 

I swam up to the divider, and shimmied back and forth in place, letting my fins ripple in the water. Harmonia was busy playing in the bubbles, but when she turned my way, her eye was caught by the pink shimmer. She flitted over, popping a few bubbles with excited bounces as she came. She stopped abruptly right at the mesh. 

"Yeah? Look at all these bubbles!" She chirped, and did a little flip. "I love them!" 

"Look at my bubbles." I told her, with a proud smile on my face. "They're strong enough to last the water change." 

Her gaze shot that way, then went back to me. "That's pretty good." She said slowly, and I could see the tiniest of an impressed light in her eyes. 

I was instantly filled up with joy. I playfully nipped at her from my side of the mesh, and showed off my fins as I danced through the water for her. She courted back with me for a second, swirling and flicking her tail. She seemed to catch herself, though, and paused. After a second, she switched off her playful, carefree mood and darted inside the large, square vase in her divider section. As her blue shimmer disappeared between the broad leaves hanging from the top, I heaved a sigh. 

"Harmonia...?" I said softly. Across the tank, Spiridion flicked his tail impatiently. 

"Phaistos, she's hiding from you for a reason." He said, as if he knew everything about everything in the world. 

I looked his way with a steady glare. Spiridion is bigger than me. He's stockier, with longer fins and perhaps manlier colors. He's dark, dark indigo. His body is. His fins are a golden shade of yellow, with bright blue edges and indigo spots on his dorsal. I've got crayon pink fins and white dragon scales. I'm a deltatail, though, where he's only a veiltail. And while I came to this home and this tank first, Spiridion was a bit older than me. I'm the only one making bubblenests, though. I secretly hold that in my head as a reminder of who was really the better fish. 

"Yeah? And she's danced with you before, right? Because you have such a great bubblenest over there." I said sarcastically. 

Spiridion attacked the mesh with righteous fury. I just turned and showed him my tail end, with a good flick of my fin just for lasting effect. Even though I had just basically showed my rear to him, even though I knew full well if there were to be a divider accident of any type, I would be toast, I felt on top of the world. I blew a few more bubbles. Thickened my nest. Rested in my cave for a while. Curled up in the gravel behind it for a nice nap. When I woke up, I looked up to the top of the tank and saw Harmonia hovering in the water at the divider's edge, with her eyes fixed on my nest. My heart soared- I had caught her showing interest without my prompting! I decided to surprise her. To go pay her a visit so we could dance together and I could bring her over to my side of the divider to see my nest up close. I glanced once at the girl across the room. She had a black and purple square in her lap- the thing that was continously playing music and that her fingers flew over at incredibly rapid speeds. Typing, she called it, although I wasn't sure if the thing was called typing or the activity was. She wasn't paying attention to us. I felt adrenaline pump through my body as I set out to find any hole anywhere in the divider that I could possibly squeeze through. I scanned the sides of the dividers, front and back for little spots where the mesh didn't entirely fit in and I could nose my way through. No such luck. 

Determined to get to Harmonia, I swam to the bottom of the tank. With my face down close to the gravel, I nosed at the little blue spheres insistently. There were no holes underneath it, either. I paused there for a moment. Harmonia had seen me when I swam up to the front of the tank. She had just quickly swam away, though, to play in the sil plants and scan the bottom of the tank for a snack. I was watching her stick her little white nose into the gravel when an idea came to me. If she could dig for fallen food, couldn't I dig underneath the divider? I set to work. It took a good while, but eventually, I managed to make a sizeable tunnel. The mesh was still there, though, halfway into my tunnel project. I gave it a look to freeze hell over. I wasn't about to give in when I was this close to seeing Harmonia! I flailed about until I had my nose underneath the mesh. Finally! I didn't even bother with trying to be discreet anymore. I burst through to the other side, and Harmonia spun around, wide eyed. Instantly, I swam over to where she hovered, and the chase began.


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## MarinePsycho (Aug 16, 2011)

Beautiful writing, I'll definitely check up on this.


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## Bettacaleb (Jul 4, 2010)

Amazingly done bookmarked! Nicely done with the dialogue.


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

D'aww, thanks guysss. :3 Phaistos is REALLY determined to get to Harmonia. @[email protected] Lol, what shall I do to remedy this???? We shall see. I'll probably be posting another chapter tonight.


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

So after this episode here, Phaistos has stopped trusting me. >.> He's only recently come around, as apparently, being in his own five gallons away from Harmonia is indeed the end of the world. Sigh. Is it just me, or is this one longer? Should I cut down on the lengths of these a little bit? :/ 

"Phaistos, what are you doing over here?!" Harmonia blurted, as she darted away from my advances. 

I caught up to her and nipped at her fin playfully. I didn't answer, as I was far too excited by finally being there in the same section of the tank as she was. The human girl hadn't noticed me there, yet. All I had to do was get Harmonia over beneath the mesh where I had come in. Suddenly, though, there was a loud bellow from my left. Harmonia took refuge behind the heater. I swirled around to see that Spiridion had taken notice of me. I hadn't thought about being next to Spiridion at all when I was so intent upon getting over here to Harmonia. 

"Hephaistos, what do you think you're doing over here?!" Spiridion demanded. He darted at the mesh and flared his fins up to their full glory. I'm not going to lie, for a veiltail, he had some long, impressive fins. 

I was not about to be intimidated by him, though. I swam right up to where he was and flared my fins up, right back at him. I puffed out my cheeks and my gills flared up. Spiridion made many attempts to bite me through the mesh, but I held my ground. 

"You think you're so great and you're the boss of the tank? Well, I haven't seen you bust out of your five gallons!" I barked. 

He went to the top of the mesh and jumped. He fell short, though, and landed back in his own water. There were these devices at the top, though. Put in place to keep us from jumping into each other's sections. Too bad I was too smart for those. When I was about to take my turn at biting the mesh, I was surprised by a ram in my side. I swirled through the water for a second before I turned around to face Harmonia, glowering at me. 

"Go back home!" She shouted, and nipped at my dorsal fin. 

That was when the human girl took notice of my antics. She popped up out of her nest and ran over to the tank. I instantly knew what was going to happen! She was going to put me in that net and take me out of the water! Of course, I would be put right back into it on my own side of the divider, but my harried brain hadn't really thought that far yet. And any amount of time above the water's surface, suspended in that green mesh, was nightmarish. I darted behind the tallest of the silk plants and skimmed along the bottom of the tank in a frantic effort to escape the net. Harmonia darted into her square vase. 

"Phaistos, you are pink! This gravel is blue!" The human girl was saying. "I can still see you!" 

I considered that for a moment. It was true. I couldn't possibly hope to hide from her... I decided I would just have to outswim her long enough that she would get bored... Or cram myself in between the heater and the wall... Or go down into that square vase like Harmonia. That was the best option, so I spun around and slinked along the bottom of the vase toward the front side of it. To my horror, the net was waiting there for me, and it swooped toward me like the maw of an enormous, hungry fish. I swam away in fright, to the heater to force my body behind it. The girl said some words I didn't know. She had to reach her hand in to move the square vase out of her way so she could see me. When I saw her maneuver the net toward me, I panicked and flailed and shot up to the top of the tank for a breath. She deftly caught me in the mesh, but I didn't even realize it until my body was touching it and I felt myself being lifted out of the water. I felt my body convulse in protest of the cool air above the water. How could there be such cold air outside if my tank was a nice seventy-nine degrees? I was panicked for my life. I could think of nothing but the warm, forgiving water I had just left. I thought she was going to just dump me out and let me sit there flopping around on top of the dresser on which we sat. Her voice had sounded very angry, earlier. Instead, she lowered the net into the water and reached in with two fingers to pinch the mesh and pull it slightly upward and off of my body. My fins came untangled from the folds of mesh and I felt myself slip into the water again smoothly. I took a deep breath through my gills, and then, I vanished from her view behind my cave- my safe spot. 

She walked around to the side of the tank after she had let me into the water again and bent to look at me. It was humilliating that she had just weakened me and now she wanted to look at me? I didn't even have the energy to flare at her. I just curled up on the gravel and panted. 

"I'm sorry, Phaistos, just calm down. It's not the end of the world." She told me. 

I didn't even acknowledge her. It felt like the end of the world, to me. I refused to look at her while she reached in and found my hole. She plugged it up and reinforced it with some heavier rocks, and while she was at it, she made sure there were no other places to get through the divider. All the while, I didn't move. I only came out of my spot after she had gone back to her nest, and only to tend to mine. That girl- I swear!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Ha! Two great additions!


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

I love this! Its so awesome! Between you and me, I like this series better than the real diary of a wimpy kid! Dont end the series too soon!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Agreed!


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Here's another installment, folks.  My fish are all crazy. As is clearly evidenced in this post. 

You know how you get that feeling that everything you do has to revolve around one specific girl? And then the feeling that your world is over when you aren't talking to her? Well, that's how it's been with Harmonia. She's been ignoring me ever since the divider incident. I got the horrible, sinking feeling that I had overstepped my bounds with her. But I was the male! She was the female, she was supposed to submit to me and I was supposed to take charge! That crazy female had it backwards, apparently. I flared my fins out, letting them ripple slowly in the water as I ventured over near the divider again. Harmonia was over at Spiridion's side, watching him wiggle dance with a moderately blank look on her face. I instantly felt a surge of jealousy. 

I darted up and down the divider, and side to side along the top, even zig zagged along the length of it. Finally, Harmonia looked my way. She looked once, then swam back into her tall silk plants with a haughty huff. I rammed my nose into the divider. That was a challenge! I saw it in her face! And who was I to back down from a challenge? 

Well, this time I didn't have to get over the divider. Harmonia finally swam up to it later, after a good while of me waiting patiently for her to. When she came, I instantly started up with the flaring and nipping and tail swishing. She couldn't help but return my less than chivalrous actions, and soon, I had her jumping. Harmonia was an excellent jumper, better than any other fish. She could jump right over the tees on top of the dividers, as I had seen her do many a time when she thought our human was taking too long to feed her. She would hop right over and eat Spiridion's food, and he just let her do it. Across the room, our human spoke up abruptly. 

"Phaistos, quit being such a tease. Leave her alone." The girl said, thinking I was just playing around. 

She didn't look our way again, so I resumed with the routine. Harmonia was starting to really get riled up. "Phaistos," she barked, "I swear to-" And she jumped again, so I could hardly hear her. This time, her body landed on my side of the divider. I gave a triumphant laugh. Harmonia, though, looked confused. She sat there motionless for a moment, until I swam up close to her. Then, she bolted. Harmonia swam around the tall glass in my side, into and out of my cave, up and down the sides and front of the tank, and jumped frantically every time she reached the surface. I chased her the entire way. When she got too close to my bubble nest, though, I saw what was going to happen before it happened. And then, she jumped again. 

Her body tore through my bubbles, and when she landed in the water again, they popped and scattered apart. 

"NO!!!" I shouted, and swam up under it protectively. 

By this time, the human girl had definitely taken notice of our romp. She had scrambled for the net in a panic. She came up to the tank and flipped the lid in the front up. I resisted the automatic urge to swin up there- there was no food in her hand, only the net. She dunked it into the water, her eyes scanning the tank for Harmonia. 

"Harmonia, how did you get over here?" She asked, and swished the net around in the water a few times. "Harmonia? You poor girl, where are you?" 

"Here!" Harmonia squeaked. I shot my eyes down her way. She was sitting the front right corner, cowering with her head down. I inwardly groaned. _Now is a great time to be submissive, Harmonia, right when you have to leave..._ When she saw the girl she swam up hopefully, until she realized the net was there. When she saw the net, she started to panic, but the girl just scooped her up and plopped her back in the water on her own side. Having short fins, Harmonia swam eagerly right out of the net. She looped around back to the fron of the tank when the net was gone and wiggled happily at the girl.

"Ah, thank you!" She twirled happily. 

The girl smiled and rewarded her with a bloodworm. I was instantly right there at the surface, giving her the stink eye. 

"Why does she get a bloodworm? She was on my side, not the other way around!" I reasoned. 

I guess there's no reasoning with humans, though. She gave me a much smaller piece of bloodworm, and then went to the other side of the tank to give a piece to Spiridion, too. When she closed the lid, she went across the room to what looked like another tank. 

"Hey, when did she get that?" I asked around a mouthful of worm. 

Harmonia didn't answer, just swam away like it was my fault she jumped over the divider. Spiridion shook his bloodworm around in his mouth and gulped it down in one bite. Then, he swam up to his divider and jerked his head toward the other tank. 

"That's what the other fish live in." He answered. 

"What other fish?!" I was instantly outraged by the very idea. Since when are there other fish, you're bad enough!"

"There's always been other fish, genius!" Spiridion said disdainfully. "There's a big blue one and a little yellow one. Do you ever see anything but your little girlfriend?" 

"I'm not his girlfriend." Harmonia chimed in, her voice firm and adamant. "He's my stalker." 

"You jumped over here, Harmonia!" I reminded her, and then, I didn't even want to talk, anymore. It was off to sulk in my corner. But hey, maybe Harmonia would go for the damaged thing. She was obviously not into the normal chasing and nipping routine. I was starting to think I had over estimated how perfect our romance could be.


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

eek! I hate waiting! But I have to  I cant wait to see what happens!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

You're right. They are getting longer. But better!


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

I made a conscious effort to shorten this one. Lol. I hope it's still as good. <3 Here it is:

Over the next few days, I became less and less enthusiastic in my chasing after Harmonia. I had figured out a few other ways to get to her, but I was always netted and put back in my own side rather quickly. Harmonia would even flare back at me, which would start a fiery argument. We were bickering like that, one day in the dark. The girl had been talking about something with the other human who lived here- named 'Dad'. I never saw much of that human, although he was the one who picked me at the pet store. The girl wanted a double tail. But anyway, the girl had been talking about something called 'Thanksgiving'. From what we could tell, it was only a few days away, whatever it was. Harmonia and I were just arguing for the sake of arguing at this point. We had all been hypothesizing about this day the girl seemed to dread, and Harmonia and I disagreed on something stupid, so we started to argue. That was how a lot of things went. Finally, the door by Spiridion's side of the tank swung open. 

Our girl came walking in and tossed a bag down on the floor. She stopped to see us at the tank before she went anywhere else. I ignored her and Harmonia ignored her. We were too busy trying to charge at one another. The girl searched for us for a bit before noticing us in the back of the tank behind the plants. When she saw us, she frowned. 

"God, you two, you need to chill out." She scolded. 

I don't know what chill out meant, but I didn't like her tone. I swam up to the front and flared at her. "Keep out of it, human!" 

"Her name is 'Erin'." Harmonia said snarkily, as she swam up wiggling and dancing for the girl. "Don't you ever pay attention to the other humans she knows?" 

I didn't want to deal with it. I swam back behind my cave again and settled there to pout. I could feel it in the water when the tank's hood was lifted off. The urge to see what was wrong was stronger than my desire to sulk, so I swam out from behind my cave to investigate. The girl left the room for a moment, and when she came back, she had a long, soft looking green thing in her hands. It looked like off colored moss. She laid it out on the floor and doubled it over, and then she reached into Harmonia's section of the tank and started pulling out the silk plants. She laid them out on the moss and then removed the plants from my section. I hid back behind my cave. I didn't want that hand touching me! She took the plants from Spiridion next, then went to the other tank I had recently discovered and did the same. Once the plants were emptied out, I could see there was actually another fish in there! I couldn't believe it! We weren't her only fish?! 

I didn't get a chance to adress this injustice, though, because the girl took out the caves, next. She set them, too, on the moss. Then, she brought out the tube and the big white bucket. She siphoned the gravel, getting up all the nasties and evening it out as she went. All of us fish swam around in a disconcerted frenzy. Finally, the girl was done taking out water. Instead of immediately adding more, though, I caught her going back to her black crate and pulling the net from its contents. Instantly, I panicked. She filled up a cup of water from our tank, and another cup of water from the other tank. She caught the fish from the other tank first, and set him aside on a desk in the room. She spoke to him as she did it, apologizing to him for the stress. Then, she came over to our tank. There was nowhere to hide. I knew she was going to net me before she even put the net in my part of the tank. She swooped the net up under me and lowered the cup into the water. In my haste to escape the net, I swam right into the cup, and then it was being lifted. 

"Sorry, Phaistos, but you're out of hand with this Harmonia thing of yours." She mumbled. 

She set me on the desk within view of the other fish, but not directly beside him. We still flared and showed off, though. The other male was plain, but he had an impressive size and an attitude to go with it. 

"Hey!" He shouted. "Hey, I know you! I thought we ran you off a long time ago!" 

I flared back and did an agitated circle around the circumference of the cup. "I've been here this whole time! Where's the gold and red one, is he over there, too? I'll kick his butt!" 

The other fish laughed. "Please! Ares could have killed you in a heartbeat! Ares is dead, though. He was a bit too cocky and decided to try and swim in the air." 

The fish rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. He seemed to take a break from flaring to take a quick breath, but then he was right back at it. I continued, flicking my tail agressively. We didn't speak again, just flared and increased our war dance efforts. The girl came back for the other male first. She took him away and floated his cup in my section of the big tank, and I instantly started to protest. I was giving the girl some pretty choice words by the time she came back for my cup. She ignored me, though. She brought me over to another tank and gently set my cup to float in the water. Beneath me, I saw all my old plants, but a different cave. It was a red cylinder with a handle on it. I tried to swim over there, but didn't think about the plastic keeping me confined. I looked all around this new tank. It had my regular plants, but no blue gravel. The bottom was bare, other than the cave in there. There was a divider set up, but from what I could see, the other half of the tank was empty. The red light of a heater flickered on. I supposed this was my home, now...


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

You better get wifi on vacation! So good!


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## Badjer (Oct 25, 2011)

Aww poor Phaistos! Normally I don't care much for betta stories, but this is really, really cute! Great job.


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## miish (Nov 13, 2011)

Aww this story is adorable! Can't wait to hear more


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Phaistos and Harmonia are both in trouble right now. She dropped a bunch of eggs from their little episode after I moved her out of the big tank and I vacuumed them up... I guess she would have eaten them eventually, but... her new taank is barebottom and they were just sitting there all... ew. I need to type another entry of this... Sorry, my family has been a gigantic black hole lately... :c Maybe I can squeeze something in tonight. No promises, though...


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Real-Life inspiration...


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

Gasps! 2 STORIES IN ONE DAY!! YAYZ!! Finally! Why does patience have to exist?


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Okay, here's the next installment. Phaistos has definitely not been short on real life inspiration. Sigh. The story is actually a little far behind real life, since I take it from his actual life antics. But yeah. New chapter:

My new home was less than exciting. But maybe that was because I was used to such a fiesty tank-mate. I had a few plants and that red cave, and the thermometer was on my side. I could wriggle under the mesh to the empty side if I got down sideways against the glass on the bottom. The girl would let me stay there in the empty side every so often, since I kept swimming over there and getting stuck. It was pretty mean, to me, but as she told me- "If you're going to run away from the net and come back over here when I put you back home, fine." 

My stint in the smaller tank didn't last long. It went on for maybe a week, while she watched to ensure that our new arrangement would work out. I got to come with her on 'Thanksgiving'- turned out to only be an awkward dinner around a big table with only four people there. Then, she took me back home and it was time for another water change. She didn't put me back in the tank, though, but set my cup down on her desk. The blue fish was back beside me again soon enough. 

"Are you switching back with me?" I asked. 

Hermes shrugged. "Guess so." 

"What did you do?" I asked, hoping in the back of my mind that it didn't involve Harmonia.

He gave an annoyed huff. "That annoying girl beside me, I kept trying to nip at her. Then, when she started giving me attitude, I gave it back to her. Apparently, that's frowned upon in this establishment." 

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, our human is pretty boring." 

The girl didn't bother replacing the plants, this time. She floated Hermes in his old home, and me in my rightful place in the twenty gallon. I was anxious to get out of the cup, swimming eagerly against the plastic in an effort to get through it. But it didn't work, as usual. I was finally released after what felt like forever, then it was time to eat. The girl brought the food over and gently tapped the little plastic jar against the tank. 

"My fishies, it's dinner time!" She said cheerily. She sprinkled the flakes over each of us, and then moved on to feed Hermes in his tank and the little yellow one- Banana Fish- in his bowl. As we chased the flakes around, Harmonia and I caught one another's eyes. She swam up to the divider and hovered there silently for a moment. I followed suit, and looked her up and down. After a second, I realized I was being completely thoughtless. I flared up immediately, and Harmonia took to wiggling with a smile. 

"Phaistos, I thought you were gone forever!" She laughed. 

"Why?" I paused to ask. 

"Because when the other girls were taken out, they didn't come back." Harmonia said earnestly. 

I nodded slowly. "Right... Well, I just lived in the other tank for a while."

"Oh." Harmonia said slowly. She spun in a small, slow circle, flaring her fins up for me. "Well... were the other girls over there?" 

I grinned. "Why? Jealous?" 

Her pectorals halted and she sunk a centimeter or two before she glared at me and flared up. "No!" 

I laughed. Swam back to my corner to start another bubblenest. "Nope!" I shouted, between breaths and bubbles. "There were no other girls."


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## Badjer (Oct 25, 2011)

> "That annoying girl beside me, I kept trying to nip at her. Then, when she started giving me attitude, I gave it back to her. Apparently, that's frowned upon in this establishment."


This made me lol...literally! Sounds like you have quite the mischievous bunch on your hands Erin!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Yay! Good good good!


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

Great job!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Are you still doing this?


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

maybe she's making a few more to post them all up in one day.


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Sorry, I kind of let it fall to the wayside. I'll try and get another up today, but then I'm going out of town. You know how busy the holidays get, I'm sure. But yeah, I'll get one up later.


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

erinandares said:


> Sorry, I kind of let it fall to the wayside. I'll try and get another up today, but then I'm going out of town. You know how busy the holidays get, I'm sure. But yeah, I'll get one up later.


Oh okay! :-D


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## erinandares (Oct 4, 2011)

Yeah, this is what my brain barfed up. @[email protected] Anyway, I'll have more to write about later. I'mma have to write more recent things, because this happened a while back. >.>

Last time I saw Harmonia was probably only two, two and a half weeks ago. But it feels like it's been forever. Even though my memory of her is fading, I still think I can describe the last time I saw her for you. It was a quiet afternoon. Our human was asleep. Harmonia had been flirting with me the whole day. It was a really good one. I mean really good one. And then, it was cut short. To preserve what dignity I have in this place, and to preserve the dignity of my beautiful lady friend, I'll refrain from going into too much detail. Suffice it to say my bubblenest was finally being put to use. When I straightened and looked around, looking for dropped eggs and distractedly watching Harmonia drift, my eye was caught by a flash at the front of our tank. My eyes went wide. I instantly forgot about everything when the tank's hood opened up and the green mesh net lowered into the water. I darted. Harmonia righted herself and looked up, and she darted, too. The net caught her, though, and she was dropped into a little cup of tank water. Our human was talking. She seemed stunned- and didn't seem too happy, to boot. 

I swam around frantically. Looked for any eggs I might be able to find to salvage my babies. But there were no eggs. Harmonia wasn't even in my view, anymore. But someone else was. It was the blue fish- Hermes. He was swimming up to the side of his cup and checking out the tank. But I couldn't even look at him. To see his curiosity- like nothing had happened at all and no one had just almost had the girl of his dreams- was too much. I quickly swam back to hide behind my cave. It had gone from a very good day to a very bad day. 

I wasn't really sure where I was until I had already been let out of the cup. There were a few plants around. A red cup- mug was what I had heard it called. Erin was sitting on the white nest she frequented, leaning over closer to the tank I had been placed in. She looked at me disapprovingly. 

"Harmonia," She said, "I thought you guys would be okay..."

I swam behind the cup. Not into it, though. Just behind it. Hid there between it and the heater. "Well, we would have been just fine if you hadn't come and interfered!" 

I wish I had been brave enough to shout it to her face. But I was humiliated. I didn't ever want to see that girl again. She couldn't have just let me have that one incident? How would she like it if a giant net had interrupted her? But the humiliation didn't end there. The next day, when she was finally sitting up in her nest, she looked at the tank and placed one hand up to her mouth. 

"Ugh, God." She mumbled. She grabbed the white bucket and the tube and started the siphon. The eggs- the only thing I had left to prove it had happened- disappeared up the tube.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Great!


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

Yayy!


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

Awesome!!!


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

More! Please!


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