Astraga's Thesis

Order and Chaos

Undergrad and Research Preparation

"I think it's complete" muttered Astraga under his breath, "Hmm, what was that Astra?" Yaran replied, hearing characteristic murmuring from her co-student's direction, "I think it's complete" Astraga announced louder.
Yaran wandered over to look at the experimental set up and proceeded to meticulously poke and prod at every separating wall, agar plate, and water well she could visibly see while Astraga tapped his foot impatiently, "Satisfied?" he said,  "Actually yes, this is brilliantly set up Astra, and you're sure this will test our hypothesis well? I've had several friends who ran a flawless experiment but when it came to the data analysis at the end it all fell apart" Astraga rolled his eyes and replied "Yes, don't confuse me with one of your friends who clearly only got their positions at this institute through nepotism". Yaran exaggerated a huff in reply and poked her chin out playfully "I'll have you know many of them were very talented, although you were the only one who matched my top marks, just perhaps not in looks", Astraga stared at her for slightly too long and Yaran knew he was attempting to grasp the meaning behind her words, however his gaze was broken by the light flickering on above their setup. "It begins" Astraga said with a slight smile.

To Astraga, Yaran was an anomaly. She was a fellow human who had matched his academic prowess since day one at the institute - they had both started together, fresh into their 20s but Astraga and her became aware of each other after the first end of year exam with both mimicking top grades. She had a pale complexion, short blonde hair with an athletic build in similar height to himself, yet the stark difference between them was their personalities. She was the one who initially approached him, apparently making a joke about their grades (that Astraga still doesn't understand to this day) and a rivalry had begun between them for the next two years. However Astraga found their rivalry confusing; an example being that Yaran would visit him at strange hours of the night while intoxicated, demanding entry to his room and laying on his bed (often after stripping to underwear) while complaining about other students. A mutual friend of theirs had called it a "friendly rivalry", which seemed a redundant statement to Astraga and just confused him. She confused Astraga further as to how she was able to match his academic level while socialising consistently and generally being so different from himself, when he asked she simply shrugged. Astraga always assumed it was his strange personality that fueled his intellect, however Yaran was the anomaly to this. It was during one of these intoxicated-late-night room calls that she collapsed on his bed where the fruits of their research question began, eventually their supervisor suggested working together rather than against - thus their experiments began.

Order and Chaos: The Mimicry of the Life Cycle - Thesis Chapter 1

Highlighted in bold and italics at the end of their thesis two years later, Astraga couldn't help but smile imagining the font representing how strongly he felt about their results; "In conclusion, strong evidence suggests that the forces of chaos and order are present in all living processes. Additionally, while these are now shown as being utilised in the cycle of life, further research should be undertaken to investigate how these two forces can act together." Both Yaran and Astraga had stood proudly upon the podium the day prior, defending their thesis in tandem against those who would seek to find gaps in their experiments.

Now they had both left their supervisors office after she had approved their request to continue their research into a P.h.D. Astraga narrowly missed the high-five Yaran immediately threw at him, but the scream she let out afterwards hit his eardrums with force  "Are you okay?" Astraga asked, cocking an eyebrow and pushing his white fringe back to its characteristic place "Yes, I'm just so fucking HAPPY, seriously Astra we pulled it off - and now imagine the discoveries we're going to make!" Yaran jumped. Astraga smiled briefly at her reaction which she noticed, and beamed an even bigger smile back "I must admit, I am rather excited, I've already got some ideas with how to proceed" Astraga said, "Well, lead the way genius" Yaran replied while making a sweeping bowing gesture with her hand. Astraga placed both hands behind his back professionally and glided down the corridor while Yaran followed skipping and fist pumping the air.