Yingxue let out a long, long sigh as she took another sip of her tea, pushing the second egg around on her plate with her fork. She was no longer hungry.

"[color=977D9E]Isaac,[/color]" she said wearily, "[color=977D9E]I spent all night on this already. Genetically, there's nothing wrong with the cow.[/color]" As people filtered out of the cafeteria, she was more comfortable with dropping her head into her hands in something approaching despair. "[color=977D9E]I don't know exactly what the oil is but it's not mutagenic. Unless you want me to look at some other part of it.[/color]"

The despair only grew, because Isaac was probably going to tell her to take another look at it anyway. Leaving the egg carelessly on the table she stood, downing the last of the teea in an aggressive gulp. She'd already gotten rid of the thin section she'd been looking at. She'd need to get another tissue sample out from lab refrigeration and mount it all over again. Her eyes were already killing her from staring into the microscope all night; she rubbed at them again.

She was halfway to the lab again when she saw her reflection in a pane of glass and remembered what she looked like. She'd already lookedd at the stupid cow. Even if she had to look at it again, she was going to do it without looking like she was five step from tottering over. She reversed course, then headed over to the habitation wing. She didn't keep a [i]lot[/i] in her room, but it was where she kept her makeup. Foundation. Concealer. Maybe some highligher and eyeshadow for further misdirection, she looked worse than usual. After the walk, she beeped into her room and retrieved her makeup kit from the spartan table.

In short order, she looked...well, not [i]well.[/i]  Not at all. But [i]presentable.[/i] Taking a long, deep breath as she looked in the mirror, she gave herself a few quick slaps on the cheeks before hurrying out and down to the lab again. As she did so, she called up Isaac again. "[color=977D9E]Is there anything in particular you want me to look at? I'll be in the lab, can you bring me a sample of the affected grass as well so I can run an analysis on that too?[/color]" The lab door shunted open and she cast a mournful look at her empty beanbag before starting the mounting process all over again.

Once more into the breach.