Rinsing In The Sun

[Sly Cooper]

“It’s Jude’s so you’re going to have to ask him. He took lessons when he was about your age. But like everything, he gave up on it.” Joan went forward to lean on her brother. It was common for the two of them to fight and then cling.

“I didn’t give up on it. That’s when the purge happened. That’s why I don’t do it any more.” Jude corrected his twin then patted her head.

She shrugged, “If that’s what you say.”

“In any case, it’s no good to me now, so take it. It just clogs up the attic.”

“He gave up on it. That’s how it got up here in the first place.”

“It seemed cool. Our cousin did it. And he was cool.” Jude whined like a small child.

“Oh hush!” She kissed her brother on the neck, “It’s not worth the argument.” Although, it was highly unlikely they would stay at ease with each other for very long. But when they were completely and totally on the same side, they were an incredible team.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He glanced across at Jude with hopeful eyes, but before he got a confirmation as to whether he could have the robes or not, another little quarrel had yet started. He was a bit annoyed with it, that people older than him would act like two-year-olds. He simply rolled his eyes and allowed it to pass, somewhat, before grinning wide upon finding that he could have the uniform. “Awesome!” He started to unfold the uniform neatly and placed them gently on the trunk that he had received them from, then removed his shorts to jump into the long black pants. They were a bit too long, enough that the bottom of the pants were just below his heels, but he didn’t let that bother him.

He started to try and remove his shirt without asking for help. He figured he would have to do it on his own most of the time, so it was best to start now. When he had managed to get it halfway off, he was carefully pushing it off the other half, but not having much success. But he still didn’t ask. He was a boy, of course, and the uniform was starting to make him feel proud of him as he started to put the upper half of the uniform. The uniform was similar to that of a martial artist named Bruce Lee, who would unfortunately die a few years later, to many fans’ dismay. When Feng realized he wasn’t having much luck, he blushed and just let the two shirts hang where they were before opening another trunk. “Good grief,” said the child as he realized what he had just done, “How many trunks are in here?!”

[Sly Cooper]

“If there’s anything you can think of, it probably has a trunk up in our attic, that’s how many trunks are up here.” Jude chuckled, then grabbed his sister by the wrist and tugged her along. “Look, it’s the old record player. It winds up so we can still use it.”

Joan smiled softly, “Well then start it up.”

And so he did. He cranked it, put a record on, and then carefully placed the needle. Soon some jazz music began to play. It was a catchy tune, and a woman began to sing. The record label had worn away, so it was hard to tell what the album was called. He then grabbed his sister and pulled her in by the waist. She went into a laughing fit as her brother made her dance. “Common let’s be swingers.”

“Jude!” He leaned her back and wiggled his eyebrows around. “You too kid. Do you dance or what?”

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng was pretty much distracted at the time as he had started to rummage through the new trunk pulling out various things. Much to his surprise, and fright, he jumped startled banging his head on the mouth of the lid as the music started to play in the attic. “Ouch!” The boy grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head and looked over to the source of the music. It was an old record player, from the looks of it, and the twins appeared to be enjoying it. He raised an eyebrow, bewildered at first at their being so close to each other it was almost as if they were married.

But then he shook that thought out of his head, as it was wrong for siblings to, in a sense, mate with each other. It was kind of awkward as that thought had stuck in his head but it immediately went away once Jude had started speaking to him. He blinked in confusion, and then simply shrugged. “Um, no… I don’t think I know how to dance.” He chuckled, embarrassed, and then continued on, “I think I will just watch you two, if that’s okay with you.” He found an old chair that was wooden and smelled strongly of it, and smooth to the touch as well, so he took his seat there as he started to take off the karate shirt while doing his best to put his red shirt back on entirely. His eyes were watching the twins, though, and he had a crooked smile on his face as he watched them.

[Sly Cooper]

“Can’t dance? That can’t be true! No one can’t dance. Dancing is the feel you get when music plays. It comes naturally to you. In your feet and soul!” Jude was being very serious, but Joan smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

“Leave it be.” A sparkle came to her eyes as she was being swung around by her brother. She was enjoying herself, and so was he. It was a speedy song, so her feet didn’t get in any work edgewise; or rather they hardly hit the floor.

“Ffffffine.” He pretended to pout at her, but it didn’t take long for a wide smile to take over. But soon the song came to an end, and in its place, a slow song came on. Jude pulled his sister in close and the two slow dance. Her hand was in his. He had and arm wrapped around her waist and she had a hand rested on his shoulder.

“It doesn’t help he had dancing lessons as well.” She giggled and looked at her brother closely. Neither of them bothered to push aside their normal behavior with Feng there.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng was amused by Jude’s sudden comments, as if the older brother was surprised with Feng’s lack of knowledge about dancing. But he simply shrugged in response and stuck with his answer, that he couldn’t dance, while watching them dance rapidly and fiercely across the floor to the lively song. Suddenly, a slow song came on, and Feng’s eyes widened at the sight of the twins getting rather too close for comfort. Well, for him, it was uncomfortable to look at, and he was starting to have second thoughts about even being there.

“Um,” he said under his breath as he averted his gaze, looking away from the twins and then getting up to act as if he was going to look around some more. He just wanted to get as far away from the twins as possible, not have to look at them, and just hope that their being that close would be the last time they would do it, or that it was just an accident that they couldn’t prevent. It seemed, though, that they were more in love than just being twins, but who was he to judge? Who were they to judge? Who was anyone to judge? Feng sighed softly before reaching into another trunk and pulling out some more stuff. He hoped the song would be over soon so that he could look at the twins.

When the song was over, he would look at them then and smiled kindly. "You know..." he started nervously, "It kind of looks like you two are in love with each other... Heh... I mean... I, um... I know brothers and sisters love each other and I'm sure twins are like, twice as loved by each other, so... I mean." He didn't know quite what to say, so he shut up about it then and now. "Never mind... Ha ha..." he chuckled, his expression that of being nervous and knowing that things were pretty awkward.

[Sly Cooper]

Before the song was even over the two split up, and Jude let out a small chuckle. Joan turned to see Feng with his back turned looking through another trunk. “He is very interested in all our crap.”

“Hey, it is pretty cool crap. Like that record player. Or your diary.” Jude had to rub his sister’s face in the fact that he found it after all these years.

But instead of looking angry, she looked scared, “You wouldn’t!”

“No, I didn’t. You know me better than that.” He tilted his head.

The song stopped and Feng turned to talk to them, nervously. In love. It may or may not be true. That very second, the two knew what they knew would inevitably come. They couldn’t be themselves around Feng, because like everyone else, he would judge and like all those who judge and over analyze, would then frown upon them. “We’re not in love. We’re just really close. You know born together then we will die together.”

“Like you said, twins are strange like that.” Jude offered a friendly smile. He shrugged it off like he shrugged everything off. He pulled himself together and acted like everything was okay.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He shrugged, chuckling nervously. “I’m sorry if I made you mad. I don’t judge people… I just thought it was kind of weird and I didn’t want to get in trouble or either one of you to get in trouble, either.” He shrugged again, sighing out of relief that the twins weren’t yelling at him or anything. “I mean, I kissed Jude, people could judge me because of that, right?” He chuckled again, “But that doesn’t mean I’m gay, right? Nor that he is.” He realized that he was running his mouth, so he shut up once more and sat down crossing his legs letting his head fall as he stared at the floor.

“Now I feel bad…” He muttered under his breath as he put his hand on his chin for support, placing his elbows at his knees. Indeed, he felt bad, for he felt like he had misjudged the twins when he shouldn’t have. “I didn’t mean to say anything stupid… If you two are really in love, that’s your business and not mine nor anyone else’s…” He continued to mumble inaudible words and then finally said at the end. “Sometimes I do wish I could be in love, too. But eh, I think I’m too young. Even if I’m, like, ten.” Finally, he decided to just shut up about it and said calmly, “Never mind. I love you two so I won’t say anything or be bad or anything, whatever.” He tried to give them a reassuring smile.

[Sly Cooper]

“Oh no we’re not mad.” Joan came close to him and patted him on the shoulder. “We’re just surprised.”

Jude was debating whether or not to give Feng the talk.

“There are many kinds of love—“ She wasn’t really sure what to say to him, so instead she just sat by him and watched him. He rambled a little, but it wasn’t anything important, or if it was she couldn’t hear it.

“There is the love between family, the love between friends, and so on and so forth.” Joan was afraid to see where Jude was planning on taking this. “But to be in love is something else entirely. You can’t choose it. It just happens. Like dance I suppose, but a more beautiful dance between two hearts. And although sometimes when people are in love, it is considered wrong or taboo, it doesn’t stop it from happening.”

Looks were exchanged, and then Joan, slightly in dismay with her brother’s statement looked at the boy. “What made you think we were mad? We know you don’t judge, and we—I can see where you may have gotten the idea that Jude and I are in love, due to our extreme closeness.” She passed him a gentle smile for reassurance.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng was a bit confused as to where this conversation was going to go. He just knew that it was getting awkward and that he needed to be sorry for what he had just done, but the twins didn’t seem to be bothered by it much. For that, he was glad, and so he wrapped his good arm around Joan’s waist, but did mutter an audible apology loud enough for the two of them to hear. “I’m sorry.” He tried to give them that reassuring smile once more, but truth was, he was more in the mood to blush for his stupidity upon Jude’s explanation, followed closely by Joan’s. What they had said did make him feel slightly better.

“So… you aren’t really in love with each other, then?” He asked calmly, although there was a hint of nervousness in his voice. He nodded to confirm Joan’s theory, “Yeah… You two just seemed to so be caught up in each other’s arms, ha…” He shrugged slightly. “Well, I guess if you aren’t mad at me, I suppose we’re still friends? Family?” He asked with a slight chuckle. “It’s not like you two are going to be smooching each other all night. I mean, brothers and sisters can kiss and hug, I just meant like that kind of kissing where they use their tongue. Now that’s just gross, ugh.”

[Sly Cooper]

The two of them paused briefly, awkwardly. The kid was on the ball, which is what concerned the both of them. “Ha—yeah. No smooching here.” That wasn’t entirely true, but the boy didn’t need to know that. “But of course we are still family, you can’t just get rid of family as you choose, or when they do something silly.” Joan spoke up, cleared her throat and wrapped an arm around him.

“Well—there was the purging—“ Jude grinned evilly.

“No Jude.” She knew he was kidding, but it wasn’t really the appropriate time to kid about such things. She glanced up at her brother and gave him a gesture to suggest that he try and say something to cheer the boy up. “Right kid. Brothers and sisters don’t do that kind of thing,” it pained him slightly to say it. He knew it was wrong but it never stopped him, it just made him feel guilty. “They hug and kiss and they love each other, but they don’t do that—ever.”

Joan shook her head at her brother trying to over compensate.

“And so we don’t hold it against you. No need to apologize—at all.”

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng started to smile, for real this time, and so he nodded. “Well, I’ve actually met others, brothers, sisters, or just friends, who would just play around. But it was kind of weird, and that was like, a long time ago.” He shrugged, and then hugged Joan. “It’s just that, for practice, maybe. But I don’t know what they’re practicing for, since they never tell me more than that, ugh. And I don’t think I want to know more. They were usually older than me, most of them are gone by now.” He sighed, “Including my sister. She was always smooching her boyfriend. Some guy named Kevin Po. I used to call him Poop, ha!” He started to giggle, but then stood up and stretched out his legs. He glanced at the window. It seemed like it was starting to get late into the afternoon, but he wanted to stick around just a bit longer.

However, at this time, it was really up to the twins. “So… What do you want to do? Want to start working on the attic, or just head back to the creek for another swim? I mean, the sooner we start here, the better, but it might be raining tomorrow.” There were indeed clouds up in the sky but it wasn’t clear enough whether they would turn into the kind that let out a downpour of rain or if they were just passing by. Feng didn’t know what to do or say so he just chuckled slightly, his expression one of confusion and uncertainty. “That was kind of awkward…” He muttered, just remembering what he had said about knowing people older than him messing around.

[Sly Cooper]

Jude chuckled at the poop joke, and Joan elbowed him in the rib lightly. So he cleared his throat acting like he did nothing of the sort. “Well at least that’s better than practicing on a pillow wouldn’t you say?” There was a brief pause before Jude began to chuckle again.

“You are so immature.” Joan’s eyes narrowed, as she glanced at her brother.

“But you like that about me.”

Her expression eased up, because she knew it was true. She then turned to Feng to listen to him. “Well, I suppose that depends on what you want to do. Do you want to work on the attic—“

“I do! That means more tasty, crunchy snacks!”

Joan ignored him, mostly because the thought of the eight legged friends being eaten wasn’t a very pleasant one. “Or go swimming. We all know what Jude’s opinion is.” She rubbed her forehead, and stuck out her tongue.

“Tasty, crunchy, snacks,” he echoed.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He raised an eyebrow. “Practice on a pillow?” He didn’t understand what his brother had meant but he forgot about it during the next few seconds when the twins had once again started a small quarrel. He realized that Jude had a smart mouth, and that Joan was more like a motherly figure than just an older sister, so he chuckled at the sight of that. “It’s like she’s your mother, Jude, ha!” He giggled lightly before moving across the room toward the window. He climbed on a couple of trunks so that he could see out, and realized that it was probably a couple of hours into the afternoon.

“If only a clock around here still works…” He muttered softly and then glanced toward the twins. “Well… If we get started now, we could have time to get to the creek for maybe an hour and then come back and sleep in here for the night.” He shrugged, knowing that his plan could be good, as long as they paid close attention to the window checking the sun’s position or at least the amount of light there would be from time to time. “Jude wants to start cleaning, so I guess we start cleaning now. The sooner we get rid of the spiders, the better, and besides, we could see them good right now during the day… If we went swimming first and then came back we wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink!”

[Sly Cooper]

“Of course she act like my mother, cos our mother wasn’t much of a mother.” Jude then hugged his sister and picked her up off her feet.

“Like Feng needs to know our life story, Jude.” Joan giggled when she was being swept off the floor. “Put me down.”

“But I like you better up here.” The twins then went into their overly playful routine for a few minutes. He then let her down gently, and patted her on the head.

In return she pecked him on the cheek, and smiled at him. “Alright we will clean up a little. That will make him happy.”

“You bet it will. Tasty—“

“—crunchy snacks. We know. We know. Please don’t say that any more.” She gave him her motherly look, then went back to watching the young boy. “We should have a box full of watches up here somewhere, but I don’t know if any of them work.” Joan bend down and began to go through boxes.

“Pop’s old watch might still work—but it might have gone with him-- If you know what I’m saying.” His eyes shifted quickly looking out for eight legged critters. “Maybe we should leave you in charge of the time, kiddo. Especially if we are going to go back to the creek.”