Cycle 31-1: Back To The Grind (Patreon)

Sunlight peeked through from behind Kaitlyn’s closed eyelids. She let out a long sigh, then rolled out of bed.

The last loop had been nice. Hanging out with Vinny for a little while had been a welcome change of pace, while hanging out with Heather had proved unexpectedly fun. Exhausting, but fun.

How does she manage to cram in so many activities? Screw my grades, how she's keeping hers up between all the socialization is the real mystery.

The blonde had been more than willing to drag Kaitlyn along to any and all events she could. Study groups, parties, dinners, club meetings – she seemed to make them all appear out of thin air. Alongside Kaitlyn's own music and Bash Bros practice, her loop had ended up being unexpectedly lively.

But now, her one loop reprieve was over. It was time to get busy.

Alright. First thing's first. I've gotta plan.

She already had some idea of what to do going forward. Learn about the other male leads, continue building up whatever skills she could, and… talk to Philip. The real question was, what did that look like in practical terms?

She quickly washed up and got dressed before returning to the dorm, stowing away her start-of-loop items as usual. She half wanted to go on a walk to think, but it wasn't a great idea. She had to be here for Heather's move-in if she wanted to start Kate's Kitchen again. And seeing how it was still one of her best ways to make money and practice cooking, it seemed like an obvious option.

I have to go work at Chella's. And I want to keep developing my skills in music, Bash Bros, and programming… Maybe there's other classes I could take, too? Oh, and lab – I think I'm ready to try taking that one on again, maybe for shorter hours than last time…

As she ticked the different options on her fingers, Kaitlyn could practically feel her free time shrinking before her eyes. There was so much to do. So many things she wanted to do.

No way I can manage all of this, a groan escaped her. I might have to prioritize a little differently…

For this loop, Chella's was her top priority – no way would she let herself weasel out of that one. After that was learning about the male leads, so Bash Bros and lab would dovetail nicely with those. After that…

I can practice cooking more, go to more classes, or practice skills outside of classes. Maybe I can handle two of those, depending on how everything else goes, though I get the feeling that I'll be spending a lot of time socializing…

She grimaced slightly. It wasn't that the idea itself was unappealing. It just still felt wrong. Even with Ian, who she considered a legitimate friend. She'd have to be careful about what form her "intel gathering" actually took. Hopefully, she could avoid turning it into a straight interrogation.

However, the idea of going to more classes did appeal to her. Philip had recommended at least one more in the CS department – Software Engineering. One that he, himself, was also taking. There was also an entire catalog's worth of college courses that she could choose from and simply drop into, especially now that she had some prerequisites under her belt.

…But that's lower on my priority list, Kaitlyn admitted. I've done plenty of timeloop shenanigans to make myself an expert at some classes already. I don't particularly feel like spending another eternity doing the same for everything else, even if I do have the option. There's only so much knowledge my brain can hold.

Whatever classes she took from here on, she decided to do them one at a time. That would keep her from getting swamped with the things and force her to give proper attention to the main goal: getting out of the game.

She was sick and tired of being here. And it was time to do something about it.

Ok. So. Kaitlyn stretched in her chair. Lab, Bash Bros tournaments, hangouts with Ian, working at the restaurant, maybe drag myself through one CS class, and Kate's Kitchen… Sheesh.

It sounded like a lot. But really, it felt pretty doable. As long as she kept each item to a couple times a week, then it would still leave her wiggle room for hobbies and whatever else she wanted to do.

If I've still got spare time with all of that, I'll practice music. No biggie. But if it's too much… maybe I'll have to scale back on the cooking for a bit.

She glanced down at the clock on her phone. 10:04 AM. Heather would be here in two minutes.

Rolling her neck, Kaitlyn stood. Alright. I've got a plan. Time to actually do it.

***

"Right. Here you are!" Professor Adams gestured toward the double doors of the lab. "I need to get to a meeting, unfortunately, so I'll leave you to introduce yourself. If you need anything, just ask a postdoc!"

"Will do!" Kaitlyn gave the woman a cheery wave as she was ushered inside. The long benches cluttered with equipment and supplies stretched out before her, sterile white lights shining down from above.

Here we are again.

The lab appeared mostly empty, as it usually did on her first visit. Only Christa stood placing leaf disks into a 96-well plate for her ROS assay. Freddy and Esme were hiding away in the microscope room, while Elliot wouldn't show up for a while yet.

Stepping inside, Kaitlyn grabbed what she knew to be an unclaimed lab coat from the hooks and put it on. She waited until the postdoc was finished with the most time-sensitive part of her assay before stepping forward. "Hello? Christa?"

The shorter woman looked up in surprise. "That's me! And… oh, are you the new undergrad?"

"That's me." Kaitlyn inclined her head slightly. "Kaitlyn. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, it's wonderful to meet you, too!" The woman beamed. "I heard you'll be helping us out with general lab maintenance."

"Yup," she confirmed. "Maybe some project stuff on the side. Who knows how much I'll have time for."

She did. Kaitlyn knew precisely how much time would be left over for her to take on actual experiments. And she was determined to make sure she didn't go over her self-imposed limits.

I'll get you eventually, qPCR. Even if it takes me ten loops of reasonably sane working hours.

"Wonderful." Christa stood. "Well. How about I give you a tour of the lab?"

"If you want to, sure," Kaitlyn shrugged. "But the Professor did show me around a lot already. I think I have a pretty good idea of where everything is."

"Did she? Well, that certainly makes things easier!" Christa laughed. "Less work for me! Well then… perhaps we should figure out when you'll be coming in? I'd love to get you started right away, but I'm afraid I have quite a lot on my plate today…"

Kaitlyn gave her a reassuring smile. "That's completely fine! Don't worry about it. Let's figure out the schedule first. Then if you don't mind, I can watch you work?"

"Of course!" The portly woman grinned. "It's no trouble at all! I just hope I don't bore you."

"Trust me, I won't be bored. As long as you don't mind me pestering you with questions."

She chuckled. "I'm a postdoc, Kaitlyn. Getting pestered comes with the territory."

As promised, Kaitlyn was allowed to watch on as Christa finished up her assay. She was fairly familiar with this one, having done it a few times and seen it a dozen more. However, she took the opportunity to really focus on the woman's technique.

She's really precise with this. Always making sure the leaf disks have the same side facing up… but flipping them is such a pain. How does she do it so fast without damaging them? She leaned closer, focusing on the tiny pipette tip the woman wielded. Oh! She's barely touching them at all. It's more like she's poking the edge and dunking them until they come up right. That's way easier.

As efficient as Kaitlyn had gotten over the loops, she felt like she'd only gotten better at the techniques she personally knew – which were not necessarily the best ones. Sure, she'd learned from Christa and Freddy and other more experienced scientists, but that didn't mean she'd assimilated every little tip and trick they'd ever shown her. Especially for the assays she did less frequently.

Maybe I do need to watch her do qPCR again, with fresh eyes. Maybe I'll learn something.

The sound of the door opening brought Kaitlyn's head up. Leaning over, she saw a flannel clad figure stride confidently into the room. Fiery orange hair tumbled down in a ponytail behind him, a few wisps floating free about his face. His emerald green eyes swept over the area and settled on the pair of women.

"Ah, Elli!" Christa called over in greeting. "Done with class?"

"Yup." He set down his backpack in one of the cubbies and grabbed a lab coat. "Is this the new undergrad?"

"Yes it is!" Christa nodded. "Elli, this is Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn, Elli."

"Nice to meet you." She smiled.

"Elliot. It's a pleasure." He shrugged into his lab coat. "What are you up to?"

"Just watching Christa finish setting up her ROS assay." Kaitlyn explained.

"Ah. Is that for your new knockouts?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! I'm hoping it all goes well." Christa stretched to put the plate above her bench. "Wouldn't it be exciting if we did see a difference?"

Kaitlyn gave a secret smile. It will be. You're going to be so happy when it works.

"Oh! You're probably wondering what I'm on about." Christa chided herself. "These are…"

"The FPG-1 knockouts, right?" Kaitlyn offered.

The postdoc blinked. "That's right. How did you…?"

"It's on the pots." Kaitlyn pointed at the little pink tags with "fpg-1" written on them in lowercase. "Also, the Professor told me a bit about what we're doing here."

Christa blinked again, then her grin widened. "Well! You're certainly prepared! Do you know what it does?"

"Not exactly, but neither do you," Kaitlyn smiled. She couldn't resist the slight jab. "We think it's a negative regulator of the plant's immune response, right? That's what you're trying to test by treating it with an elicitor peptide."

"Exactly!" At this point, Christa was practically bouncing with giddiness. "Wow! Anna really did prepare you for this! Good on her – and you too!"

"Hmm." Elliot crossed his arms. "You pick things up fast, huh?"

"Kind of." She allowed herself a small grin. "I'm just interested in this stuff. But anyway, is there anything I can help you with, Elliot?"

"Oh, right." He nodded toward the growth chamber at the end of the hall. "I've got some roots to measure. Mind helping me out?"

"No problem. That's what I'm here for."

With that, she followed him through the adjoining labs. Off to a good start already.