"Yes, yes. Default to the obvious explanation, will you."

"Well, I do actually like Sudoku, so I don't really have any non-obvious explanations."

"I only sort of get the appeal of puzzles. Like, the process seems among the pleasanter processes you could go through to get things, but the thing isn't worth having."

"In my case, it's similar to running laps. You don't do it because you want to get to the other end of the track and back, you do it because you want to be better at running when it's important."

"Do you think it's been valuable practice?"

"I suspect so. I've never spent enough time not doing any kind of puzzle to have trackable differences in improvement, but I do know that puzzles-in-general have gotten easier over time, not just ones I already have experience with."

"Cool."

"Also, I'd go insane if I didn't give my brain something challenging to do, and there's only so much schoolwork I can do."

"And schoolwork isn't usually challenging in a satisfying way. Standard 'enrichment' is just 'more of it'."

"Math and languages are sometimes alright."

"I actually don't like math much. I'm lucky there's no calculus in spellcraft."

"That...would be tricky, yes."

"I'd do it but you can bet I would complain!"

"I wouldn't dislike it on the level of performing the action, but I suspect I would be somewhat dismayed by how much longer it would take to complete a spell."

"It would be pretty hard for me to want fancy dragon powers more than I already do but I would find a way to manage if they let me skip calc."

"On a practical if not necessarily academic level...what ought we to do once we graduate high school, come to think of it? It's not like you can study thaumatology in college. If we were more certain there were no extant magic schools it would have to be education, wouldn't it..."

"Yes, at least to start with. I feel vaguely uncomfortable with the idea of not going to college at all but not enough to not recognize what an enormous time drain it would be."

"Yeah. We're entrepreneurs more than academics, but I have the same 'but I am a Smart' feeling."

"It helps somewhat that I can just tell myself that of course with potentially all of forever of course I'll accumulate a degree or two eventually but I have to admit I'm slightly jealous of Daphne for having picked out a useful niche that involves getting to put the letters Ph.D after her name. Not enough to want to trade places with her, but some."

"Better than mine, not that that's saying much."

"I don't tend to accumulate close friends. I am not a hermit, but I don't join clubs or teams, seldom have people over, and tend not to be invited places."

"I suppose we're on a similar level, then. I have the advantage of a twin, but even though she's rather social I still tend not to interact with her friends--besides Daphne, who's on a different level--outside the relevant contexts. Sitting with her and whoever else at lunch, for example."

"Well, I don't have the benefit of a sibling, but yeah. Sitting alone at lunch sucks enough that I'll put in the effort to learn names, find Nerd Table, and make polite conversation; having nothing on after school is more bonus than negative so I don't push it farther than that."