As Arsenii Rotten sits in the cafeteria at the Rising Heights Research Facility, he notices a tiny booklet that is laying on the ground, curiously he decides to pick it up and looks at the title. Engraved on it is "Researcher Lucy Morning's Personal Daily Accounts."
The name is one he recognizes, it's the recent new hire who has red horns on her head that started off working in the Blast Research Unit located in the Eastern Wing of the facility before getting transferred over to the Monster Research Unit over in the Western Wing of the facility. He's helped her adjust to the new unit over the past few days but the fact she's keeping a log of the past few days is concerning.
Most people tend to leave the M.R.U. quickly and switch over to the B.R.U., and if Lucy is feeling the same way then she could be writing about her issues with the job in this journal. So with the need to try and help out his younger coworker and definitely not feeling bored, he opens up the journal.
Log Date - June 26th, 2021
Today's my first proper day working with the M.R.U.. To be honest, I haven't been looking forward to this day. The Monster Research Unit often experiences much more dangerous working conditions than what I was used to over on the B.R.U. – that's actually the reason why I'm here as two researchers died yesterday and they need some replacements. Uh, I knew there had to be a reason I was invited to last night's drinking party besides "welcoming in a new hire".
But whatever, if 'the perfect protege' could handle this, I'm sure I can too. Researcher Arsenii Rotten has just been showing me the ropes for the day, we've mostly been looking at the differences between the four different classes of monsters. A-Class are the smart ones, B-Class are deadly but easy to keep in check, C-Class are the dumb and erratic ones, and D-Class are the docile fragile ones. We didn't have much time left to do any research but I'm assigned to be researching and running tests on some of the D-Class monsters. Personally I'd have liked to research the more interesting classes but I guess it makes sense for a newbie to focus on the boring unimportant monsters.
One thing he did warn me about was how I shouldn't get too attached to the monsters, I for one don't see the need for such obvious advice but I guess it's the thought that counts. Until tomorrow this has been Lucy Morning.
Log Date - June 27th, 2021
Today was quite an interesting day as I conducted research overseen by Mister Rotten over three D-Class Monsters; Kodak, Cub-Eye, & Flim.
Kodak is an interesting creature. A fuzzy orange furred creature with four legs, a large toothy mouth, and one large eyeball that protrudes out like the light on an anglerfish. It's compatible with the basic feeding mix that most alive monsters at the facility consume. However with a lack of eyelids and a mouth that can unhinge to a ridiculous extent, unnerving doesn't begin to describe my thoughts on it. Arsenii warned to only give treats and food through its pet bowl. Apparently someone tried to hand them a treat and Kodak accidentally took a bite out of their finger too.
Cub-Eye is unusual. With a raccoon like body, feral eyes, and two tails this seems to hardly be a 'docile' creature. It even almost gave me a scratch the other day. However, they do seem to be much more accepting of Arsenii than it is to me. Perhaps its a matter of trust? Much more testing should be done.
And lastly there's Flim. As the monster was recently brought in we have many more resources needed to allocate toward the thing. We haven't figured out its blast quite yet but we do know its diet appears to be mostly raw fruits and vegetables. I personally had a similar diet when I was a child, sliced carrots were what I used to have for snacks. When we were done for the day, the monster looked almost sad to see us go, it seems like it can create attachments to others quite easily.
Besides that, nothing else of note occurred. I guess this is the 'adult life' everyone warned me about in college. Emmett's off being Doctor Vanderbilt's perfect lil protege and don't get me started on the last member of our trio and how he's hamming it up in Capital City. Meanwhile, I'm just here.
Until tomorrow, this has been Lucy Morning.
Log Date - June 28th, 2021
Today the most unexpected development occurred, when I arrived at the research facility I ran into the monster killers Katina Rotten & Dmitri Morozov. At first I thought it had to be something related to their work or Miss Rotten needing to talk to her father, but as it turns out they were solely interested in seeing Flim.
I admit that monster has…'grown' on me the past few days, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it a 'cute little gal with the most adorable face in the whole wide world' which Miss Rotten said. At the very least none of the D-Class monsters seem to be as demanding to maintain.
After work I got a call from Emmett. It seems like him and Doctor Vanderbilt are on another excavation at The Great Monster Ruins. Besides the intense jealousy I felt, the call was pleasant. Maybe once he gets back we can go visit Capital City for a little reunion. But eh, he'll probably have his hands busy with a whole new kind of job once he does return.
Speaking of returning, I need to get some sleep as I have to return to work earlier than usual.
Until tomorrow, this has been Lucy Morning.
Log Date - June 29th, 2021
A groundbreaking discovery has been made, we discovered Flim's blast! It seems like she has the ability to time travel! Researcher Arsenii Rotten & I still have many testing that needs to be done to prove our hypothesis correct but first how it happened. I was giving Flim a carrot when another Flim randomly appeared holding a half eaten carrot. The two Flims got along well until the first Flim took a bite out of the carrot and then suddenly vanished.
We tried this again a few times that day and from our understanding, Flim is able to travel back to any point in time that they were awake for that day and can bring with her objects smaller than her. It does not appear this sort of time travel has a way to change the future or anything of such unprecedentedness. Arsenii compared it to rewinding a tape, you can go back but things play out the exact same.
It also seems like Flim is unable to do this on command yet, but she seems to accidentally do this when she experiences spiked emotions of happiness. The activity also seems to cause great exhaustion after completion so for now we haven't been able to do too many tests.
Still even with all of the limitations, this is a remarkable discovery and one that Arsenii is apparently going to present to Doctor Vanderbilt when he returns from his excavation tomorrow. It seems like things are finally looking up for me.
Until tomorrow, this has been Lucy Morning.
Log Date - June 30th, 2021
The meeting didn't go to well. Doctor Vanderbilt was too stuck in his ways to even care about a potential proof of time travel! Said "it wasn't something worth pursuing". Instead he's gonna be off to yet another excavation soon like that slimeball doesn't do that enough. And OF COURSE he has to take his favorite little protege Emmett with him.
I asked Arsenii about what our next efforts should be and he said to not worry about it and focus on something else. Apparently its common here for some researchers to look down on the research done toward D-Class monsters….I guess I was like that too, huh?
After today I'll be moving on to researching C-Class monsters too but I don't know…I think I wasn't able to follow Arsenii's advice, I ended up getting attached to them. Maybe I can come by the D-Class area and sneak some treats in for Flim.
Until tomorrow, this has been Lucy Morning.
___________
Closing the booklet, Arsenii sits there impressed. As he finishes eating, he notices the intern Lucy Morning coming in to the cafeteria. She has boyishly short brown hair, glasses, a standard lab attire, and a pair of horns on her head.
"Morning, Miss Morning!" Arsenii comments as he waves the new recruit over.
"Ah hello Arsenii," Lucy Morning remarks as she sits down at the table, "I hope you're doing well."
"Yeah, though I see you didn't follow my advice too well," Arsenii remarks.
Lucy looks at him confused until she sees Arsenii handing back her journal.
Blushing a deep red from embarrassment, the young intern mumbles something before making her quick retreat away. As she does so, Arsenii can't help but think of the advice he gave her.
'Don't get too attached to them.'
It's a piece of advice he's come to learn throughout all his years here. Monsters can come and go frequently from the facility, whether it's due to needing to make room for new monsters or because they reached all the research they can off a monster, a lot can get 'discarded'.
Not to mention the heartbreak that comes from learning the casualties each monster committed. Because no matter how cute a monster looks, they've all killed at least one person before their capture.
No exceptions.
Maybe Flim will get 'discarded' soon or will be in the facility for a long time to come, one thing Arsenii can agree on though is the monster is pretty cute.
"I guess pretty privilege exists even for monsters," Arsenii laments as he finishes his food.
See You Next Chapter!~