"Tell me about it."

"I've had one or two people tell me they were surprised by my having—well, the ability to hold conversation is what they mean, but they phrase it variously politely."

"So thoughtful. Not just kinesthetically intelligent."

He giggles. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh, I just can't seem to decide whether to despair or find the whole thing one huge joke the butt of which is us."

"I mean, laughing at it is probably healthier."

"Probably." He sighs and shrugs. "I don't know, sometimes it's just background noise, sometimes I can barely talk to people without being reminded that they think I'm made to look hot or punch people."

"Yeah, people vary a lot in - amounts they believe the things on a gut level and the amount they feel obliged to make that overt."

"What's your mother's take on it all? She's orange, right? Why'd she decide to marry grey?"

"She teaches at a grey school. I don't think I'd go as far as to say that she's culturally grey or would have been happier grey, honestly, she loves teaching, but she likes greys and met one she liked, and thinks people who advise against intercaste marriage are being reactionary fuddy-duddies."

"She got that one right."

"What, you don't think all my problems are because I'm an intercaste kid consumed with a frustration against rules that aren't arbitrary if only everyone does what they're supposed to when they pick spouses?"

He laughs. "I mean, you're a malcontent intercaste kid, I'm a malcontent intercaste kid, the data adds up, and everyone knows that's how statistics works, right?"

"Yes. Our sample size is perfect. My neurological balance disorder that neither of my parents has was obviously spontaneously generated by the wrongness of intercaste marriage. I probably inherited my disinterest in grey work from my mother whose list of top three things she'd do if she were grey rotates through twelve things depending on her mood."

"—twelve things?"

"Dance, teaching kids to dance, stunt doubling, modeling, police child victim handler, sprinting, sailing, scuba diving instructor, skydiving instructor, rock climber, arcball player."

"I was actually more curious about someone having that many interests."

"My mom is the undisputed champion of having many interests. When school's out in the spring she loads up on classes and does a hundred things, and she fits a surprising amount in around work too."

He giggles. "That's really adorable."

"Yes it is. They'd be likelier to get a third kid before they're too old if they didn't dump so much money into that but she'd wither."

"Well, it's nice for her to have many hobbies like that, I guess she never gets bored."

"You could say she needs all the hobbies because she gets bored easily!"

"I guess that's a way to look at it. Me, I'm just so easy, give me someone to talk to or a nice book."

"I consider the Internet the perfect synthesis of all Amentan entertainment possibilities that won't kill me except for how I do like to swim."

"I like to swim also, and I enjoy my work. But yes, the Internet is an eternal source of joy."

"I'm so glad I live in the era with the Internet, it would suck so much to not and not even know what I was missing."