"You have to ask--permission? Seriously?" Something about that didn't really seem right, and Wirt was pretty baffled. Yeah, society still had a long way to go before that idea was completely out of the picture, and there were plenty of people who still committed to those social norms. But his mother was about as independent as they came. She just did what she wanted to, regardless of what his step-father thought. Most of the time, anyway, when it was stuff that mattered.

"I mean, I guess it used to be like that, but--I don't know, girls kind of do whatever they want." At least, the girls in high school did. Wirt had no idea how things worked outside of high school and his own family. He didn't spend enough time at other people's houses to really know for sure if his mom was the rule or the exception. He hoped she was the rule, honestly. People should be able to pursue what they want to pursue and do what they want with their lives. Doing anything else was like conforming to labels; kind of tacky and weird.

He was surprised that there was still a place out there that held those kinds of beliefs, and it made him wonder--and not for the first time--just what kind of place the unknown was, in relation to his own world. It was stuck in the past, and aside from some major differences, it didn't seem too out of line with Earth. Were was it, exactly? Was it a real place, or just somewhere you went when lost or on the verge of death?

"I am? Oh, I guess so." He had though the same, honestly. He laughed a little wistfully. "Yeah. It's definitely--weird."