No, I mean it. ( happening to anyone else, this would have been funny as hell. even now, with the slight turn in the tides, clarke can see herself laughing about this later. but like. privately. as far away from rita as humanly possible. and to achieve that, they must first exit this conversation with (enough of a lie that it earns them) grace. )

We got into a very heated argument about — ( quick, rita hadn't understood nuclear power or splitting the atom at their very first meeting, what's something else that might fly over her head. ) — the Pythagorean Theorem. Escalated to a bit of a shoving match, I'm not proud of that. But we're fine now, we're going to get something to eat.

( possibly her worst lie to date, but told with a solid, impassive straight face. )