"Working on it," Rita replies with a shrug. "Stopping the calamity is one thing. The real challenge is preparing for what comes after."

Lifting her gaze to meet the other girl's eyes, she raises an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've heard this all before." Rita really wants to believe that Alexei's brand of stupidity is rare, reserved only for the most narcissistic of idiots... but perhaps it's too much to hope for, to want to think the multiverse isn't teeming with exactly those kinds of idiots.