Mid five figures, it turns out, assuming a modest willingness to travel. 

Nice. "Are all the local swarm patrol squads mad that you outcompete them?"

"Oh, we don't take that many interns, and most of the research positions are sourced from outside the lab's hometown. It'd be hard to find them the right combinations of magic otherwise. So it doesn't end up having much impact on patrol recruiting outside the largest cities, and for those we often have an arrangement with the local squads, training and such." 

"I'll take that as a compliment, then. I am most probably interested in joining you this coming summer."

Excellent! There are still some details to hash out, which Roshaun will cheerfully walk through. The main thing they need to know to set up the program is what fields she wants to explore. "There's some overlap," Roshaun adds. "For instance, we've already gotten some excited memos from biology and engineering labs doing laser interferometry."

"What exactly is that?"

"Well, the short version is that waves, including light waves, interfere with each other — ever wobble a rope in just the right way to make several smaller rotations instead of one big one? — and scientists can use this interference to measure things. As I understand it, first you make a bunch of light with the same wavelength, that's the 'laser' part, then you split it and bounce it off an object you want to test, then you look at the pattern of bright and dark spots made by the reflected light. This can tell you things about the surface of the reflective object to a very fine detail, and let you precisely measure things like vibration and refractive index or produce high-resolution images of cells and tissues. 

"It's an exciting application for your power, because one of the harder parts of interferometry is that even a tiny amount of external vibration can ruin your data. Lots of effort goes into holding an apparatus or part of an apparatus steady. If you decided to do this at one or more labs as part of your internship, you'd get to learn more about the math and science behind laser interferometry if that interested you, you'd participate in tests to see how much of a cost reduction or precision gain could be managed with your power, and depending on the results you might get offers to do more such work long-term."

"Physics is not already my passion but it's certainly worth a try!"

"Glad to hear it!" Roshaun has a shortlist of similar opportunities, including more research and some precision manufacturing applications, and he recommends trying out three to six of them during the internship. "Fewer than that and it's hard to explore many promising fields, more than that and it's hard to get a proper feel for any one of them, especially with travel."

"I assume the flights are comped? I'm not a sky marathoner."

"Yes, they are."

"Great. I'll look forward to it."

By the end of the call, they'll have a tentative list of opportunities to be firmed up in the coming week.

Five days later, Isabella is sent a tentative schedule. There are four proposed stints, each about two weeks long, with the first being at a precision manufacturing lab in Boulder, Colorado.

A generously compensated summer with plenty of space for trips to the zoo and whatnot. When the date rolls around, she flies to the place nearest the airport where that's allowed and takes a shuttle the rest of the way to go to Boulder.

Her internship officially starts at 8am on Monday at the lab! The information packet says she'll be working with Adrian Pelino's team and a magical girl named Nora Malden. 

She shows up from hotel dressed exactly as fancily as she usually is, with her pattern of circles and rings of various sizes on her red-and-blue color scheme. Wow, flying at this altitude is a little different. Swoop flap flap land.

It's a three-story building with a double-door entrance; there's no one outside at this exact moment.

Presumably the door's unlocked? She pushes in.

There's a small, well-kept lobby with a few chairs and a reception desk. Seated in the waiting area are a young Hispanic woman in a lab coat and a magical girl; the latter has sky-blue skin, shoulder-length black hair, and white wings, and she's wearing a gold-trimmed green robe with a gold sash and matching bangles. Her features and garb appear vaguely Indian. 

Both look up as Isabella enters. "Hello! Would you be Isabella Swan?" asks the woman in the lab coat. 

"That's me!"

"Good to meet you! I'm Monica Vidal, this is Nora Malden." The other magical girl waves and smiles. "I'll be the main point of contact with Adrian and the rest of the team while you're here." 

"Cool, should I have your email or number or anything?"

"Yes, it's in the info packet, along with some lab safety material, a map of the facility, and such." She picks up a pair of manila folders from a small table, offering one each to Isabella and Nora. "Some of this you'll have seen in the email and online forms already, but there are some things we really want to go over in person before you get started. If you'll follow me?" she adds, standing.

Hopefully she doesn't walk too briskly. Isabella trails after her.

Maybe a bit brisk, but it's a short trip and she'll slow down without needing prompting if she gets too far ahead. Just a couple of turns and a hallway to room 112, where she sits down to review the paperwork and lab procedures with Isabella and Nora. As promised, it's a mix of mundane paperwork that needs a physical signature, basic orientation material, and Very Important Safety Stuff.

Stay behind the yellow line when machinery is running! No entering labs with this sign on the door without protective eyewear! (The info packet includes some standard magical-girl-friendly protective gear that can, with minimal adjustment, avoid clashing horribly with most outfits. There are pictures and descriptions in sufficient detail for conjuration.) 

Gloves may be required in certain procedures. They won't be working with dangerous chemicals, so the dresses should be fine in lieu of power-wrecking lab coats, but Absolutely No loose sleeves or large wings near the lathe, no matter how pretty they are. (Monica emphasizes this one rather strongly.)

And just in case, here's how to use an emergency eyewash station...

It takes about an hour to go over everything.