"What kind of stuff are you studying right now? Calculus and Rome don't count, that's school stuff."

"They do count!"

"They don't! They're not stuff you get just being from here, or you won't stop studying until you're Einstein or something."

"And see, a week ago I would've said 'who's that?'. That's the sort of local knowledge I pick up indirectly by studying things like Rome and calculus."

Snort. "How'd you get that from Rome and calculus?"

"Some textbook happens to mention something and then I look up what it's talking about, and then I know who this Einstein person is and why he's supposed to be so smart."

"Huh."

"I'm sure if I really hated research I could find a way to do the same thing with less reading, but I don't, so here we are."

"I guess," he says, dubiously. "If you like it so much why don't you go to school?"

"Because if I go to school I have to learn on someone else's schedule. And spend entirely too much time sitting in a room being taught things I could be learning faster by myself."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Much better to just do everything myself."

"My parents would love to have you as a son."

"No they wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Oh, I have, what's the word, authority issues."

"What do you mean?"

"I was one of those children who responds to every rule with either 'why?' or 'no!'."

"Huh. Yeah I can see that."

"And, as a separate issue, also one of those children who decides to go hunting for giant snakes when he's five and nearly gets eaten before his parents manage to rescue him."

"It's like you've met me."

"What are giant snakes even like?"

"Large. Serpentine. Mostly only a problem when they're hungry."

"How giant are they exactly?"