Don't Stop Me

                                    

                                          
           
                          
And she was there, waiting, among the background of distant foxfires. She didn't draw close, and nor did I want her too. I had work to do anyways and only a slight inkling of how to do it. Without Gene to guide me, the spiritual plane was little more than a black abyss.

                          
"What did Naru say?" I closed my eyes, but it didn't block out the iridescent glow of the foxfires, or the presence of the girl, watching me. "It's based off of perception. Damn it, I can't control how I perceive things—I mean, where do I even start?"
                          
Wishing for Gene, I opened my eyes and started walking. Something flickered in the corner of my eye, and I turned to get a better look. Just like that I was standing in the sunlight before a huge, beautiful maple tree. I gawked up at the leaves to see what could only be a younger, gangly Naru dangling from the tree branches. No, but wait, there was another Naru at the base of the tree, reading a book. They both wore jeans, though one had a black shirt, and the other a pale blue. 
                          
Gene. 
                          
"So?" asked the twin in the tree. 
                          
"Let me finish," said the sitting twin flatly, turning a page. When I drew closer and ducked down to see the cover, I saw the embossed words of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen on a plain, black faux leather cover. He couldn't be old enough to be reading Jane Austen, let alone have any interest in romance. The kid had to be, what, thirteen? Fourteen? This one had to be Gene. Though I had never thought Naru to climb a tree, though I could see it if he wanted to be alone.
                          
"You're reading the editor's afterwards," said the above twin dryly. "So come now, you stupid scientist. Sciencefy it."
                          
Ah, so the one in the tree was Gene. That meant this one was Naru. 
                          
As the twin on the ground aimed up a dry glare at the second, I couldn't believe how I didn't notice. Of course he'd be this precocious child. 
                          
"The author's language is intelligent and edifying. Her prose was a bit long winded for the styles of our times, but I find I liked the patience it took to understand her descriptions, for the reader was well rewarded with a almost tangible picture of the character—"
                          
"Oh my god, nerd down. Why do you have to show off to me? Did you like it or not?"
                          
Naru's frown didn't disappear. He snapped the book close, as he still did as an adult when he was irritated, and lifted the book in Gene's direction. "I wasn't showing off. If you had just shown a little patience yourself, I was trying to explain myself. On an entertainment level, no. It was duller than chalk. Intellectually, yes, but not because of this..." he wrinkled his nose. "You're a fourteen year old boy reading romance novels, and you think I'm the one with the problem? What was your point in making me read this? You could have made me done anything, having won fair and square, and you make me read this?"
                          
"Hey, it was either that or Conan the Barbarian comics."
                          
Naru stiffened. "Mother specifically told you not to—"
                          
"Blah blah blah—do you even like boobs?" Gene's face split into a devilish grin as Naru's face went bright red. "There we go. I thought so. So be grateful I took the, ahem, safe route to awaken your more sensitive sensibilities."
                          
Naru opened his mouth to ask something, half turned to the house as though in the mind to find said Barbarian comics and burn them, but stopped. He gave his brother his front, arms crossed over his chest.
                          
"This is about that girl," he said.
                          
"Her name is Marian," said Gene, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he slumped himself forward onto his branch to glare down at his brother like a lazy monkey. "And Jane and Charlotte before that."