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[skaikru]

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[myagic]

[Magic is so much more elegant!! Clearly this means she needs to double down on getting more of that working isntead, right??

Still--a sigh, because she does know that Clarke cares (she's shown it so many times, hasn't she?) that while Rita definitely does not want to learn to box, she goes for what she thinks is a reassuring concession.]

Then I'll carry a weapon--I did get a whip a while back from Sundries. If someone comes at me, then they can't go complaining if I take out their eye.

[skaikru]

A weapon is good. Are you any good with the whip?

( yeah, she'd heard about rita's heroics with ivy rush back in the desert, too preoccupied with driving to actually see it. later she'd seen the other girl use it to entangle jade in the middle of a hallway, but only briefly during her crispy escape attempt. but that seems different than what clarke's currently imagining, which is a classic run of the mill bullwhip. )

Have you practiced recently?

[myagic]

Of course. I'm not about to go waving something like that around without any experience.

[That's in response to Clarke's first question, anyway. She does have a regular old whip--from her world though, so one with some aer conductance--though admittedly, she didn't use such weapons for their intended purpose anywhere near as much as using them as a casting focus back home.

And as for the second question... Well, Rita makes a half-shrug, fingers unconsciously wandering back towards her still-throbbing face.]

It's not like I'd forget how to use it...

[skaikru]

Being rusty and overconfident would be worse than forgetting entirely.

( so the takeaway here is: practice.

another month, not quite as many emotional injuries under her belt, clarke would have offered to play coach. harassing rita's door until she got up at the crack of dawn and joining the other girl for sprints across the sports deck. maybe even unsheathe that intermittently flaming sword that's not propped between the couch and desk, and join in some drills for both their sake. but right now...

hmmm, thinking aloud: ) Maybe you should also learn how to shoot a gun.

[myagic]

Hmph...I'm well aware, you know.

[And it's kind of embarrassing to have the shortcoming pointed out when she should know better. Not that it's the worst lecture she's had from Clarke...

Anyway, she's seen them in use by some people on the ship, like Natsuno, that she knows what sort of gun Clarke's talking about.]

What...those devices that shoot metal bullets? They're so...unelegant.

[Which is definitely a thing to be concerned about, right? (Look, even if blastia had their problems, hoplon blastia are still so much better than some standard lead-spewing gun, in her opinion-!) Anyway--Rita huffs and glances away.]

You don't need to fret over all this. I can defend myself, you know... I was just--caught off-guard.

[skaikru]

( clarke can't help it, she rolls her eyes at rita's easy dismissal of guns. yes, they're far from elegant but — )

They get the job done.

( she's reminded briefly of the time spent explaining to natsuno that all that really mattered in a fight was efficiency. go for the tendons to disable, main arteries to kill; shoot a magician halfway through their weirdly wordy evocations. the patience required to express all that again to rita is nonexistent though, and clarke's left just hoping some of it will eventually rub off by association. instead, primly and a little snippy: )

Don't tell me what to do. ( also read as: i'll worry if i want. ) Threats that catch you off guard are the most dangerous ones. I just want you to be better prepared, so we don't have to do this again.

( seriously, wrangling rita while she squirmed like a crocodile to get away from makeshift nose braces was weirdly exhausting. )

[myagic]

[Rita might fashion herself as a person of science and logic, but then there's the times she turns down learning supportive magic because she finds it boring and old-fashioned. Efficient she is not always.

So, Clarke's snippiness is met with a huff on Rita's part.]

It's not gonna happen again, so quit worrying. I'll work on sigils and keep the whip on hand, okay?

[Come on Clarke, Rita's been nothing but a cooperative and behaved patient, right? Right??]

[skaikru]

( the air between them is ripe for more snippiness, and more exasperated huffs. but clarke favors a long inhale through her nose, staring rita down an intense sort of apprasial flicking in the back of blue irises.

then — )

Okay. Good. I'm holding you to that.

( funny how i'm can sound a lot like all of us are, isn't it? a beat, and then clarke points directly at rita's bruised and swollen face. )

Ice. Ibuprofen. 48 hours, got it? If the bleeding doesn't stop and you can't manage the pain yourself, come back and see me, okay?

[myagic]

[For a moment there she thinks she's going to have to either argue or sit through more lecturing. That's...somewhat better, at least, even if it sounds almost, like, threatening. In a caring way.

Anyway--yeah, that swelling sure is still throbbing, so Rita moves to shift off the couch now that she seems to have medical approval to leave.]

Yeah, I got it.

...It was a little rough, but...thanks--I guess.

[She still would've preferred not having these gauze wads up her nose, thanks!! But otherwise, she appreciates Clarke's help.]

[skaikru]

You're welcome. Any time.

( somehow that any time sounds a lot like don't ever make me do this shit again, at least not for something stupid as a fist fight. but instead of exploring the subtext, clarke just lifts a hand and gives rita a small wave. remains seated on the couch, with it's cushion covers all messed up and uneven from the struggle, and won't follow if the other girl decides to go. )

[myagic]

R--right.

[Yeah, she sure hears something in Clarke's tone, but decides to go ahead and go get that ice. Goodbyes are always an awkward thing, but this one in particularl is pretty up there--but at least nowhere near as bad as their labyrinth one.

...It does make Rita send Clarke an abrupt searching glance, as she wonders again just what the other girl saw in there, and how she's handling things now, but...her face hurts too much to linger, so she exits without bringing it up.]