Rita looks around helplessly, as if hoping someone will jump in and save her from these questions, or maybe come out and tell her this is all a prank. When neither of those things happen, she faces the boy with a dry look. "...You've got to be kidding me."

This is really happening. Talking to the lesser-educated, people outside of academia, that's fine. She's done plenty of that. But someone who doesn't understand the very fundamentals of any major fields, who doesn't even understand why those fields exist in the first place? That's entirely different. And frankly, it's pathetic.

"There are lots of things you can't just tell by looking at stuff. Even just in the air around us, there are different substances that, if separated and concentrated, could have wildly different effects." For how annoyed she is, she's willing to attempt to explain, at least.