Disclaimer: Arty and Juliet aren't mine...and actually, the idea of a sunset isn't either...

Author's Note: I know all the readers of Collision are probably staring at their screens right about now wondering why the ---- that stupid girl hasn't updated yet. Well, I'm sorry to inform you that I'm a bit emotion-ed out to write a proper ending to this fic that I've spent far too much time on just to end with a mediocre portrayal. So I hope you'll excuse me if I take another week to brood over it with my beta.

In the meantime, I found this in the dark, dusty folders of my laptop and realized that I haven't posted a drabble in quite a while. So this is it:


Phenomenon

"Do you ever think, Arty, that we know too much?" Juliet asked, kneeling down on the tender spring grass, beside the ten-year-old boy, her wide, fluttering skirt swirling about her knees with the freedom of the wind.

"What do you mean, Juliet?" The young boy replied with a voice that was thoroughly ancient despite his tender age, his observant eyes still entirely absorbed in examining the organisms beneath their feet with his microscope.

"Look," she said, waving to the vibrant sunset that was occurring before their very eyes. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Not really," Artemis answered matter-of-factly. "The vivid colors are merely caused by the scattering of shorter wavelength light and the low-angle scattering of light off dust particles in the air. A relatively simple phenomenon."

Juliet sighs and spoke with all the innocence of a teenager entranced by all the delicate beauties of life. "But why deduce everything to just science? Especially when it ruins all the mystery and all the wonder," Juliet breathed, as if attempting to absorb the simple splendor of the scene. "Why not just enjoy the moment?"

Without waiting for an answer, the girl rose from her kneel and twirled in the glory of nature, her skirt spiraling magnificently, her hair glowing with a golden aura in the effervescent light. For the first time, young Artemis raised his eyes from the microscope to glance towards the vivacious girl who danced before him, embodying all the radiance of a golden sunset. And for a moment, he wondered: was there such thing as knowing too much?

The boy's inquisitive nature retorted in a flash— no, of course not. Surely Juliet was just being silly, as teenage girls often are; surely she held no innate awareness of the beauty of natural phenomena that he, a genius beyond all measure, lacked. Surely not.


Author's Note: This was inspired by a part in Angels and Demons by Dan Brown during the Camerlengo's speech where he mentioned that science had reduced the wonder of a sunset to mere particles and wavelengths, or something to that effect. Yes, I am a proponent of science, but I have to agree with that much. Sometimes, knowledge can make one so disattached, just as the greatest obstacle most doctor/lawyer/academic types face is to keep their expertise-- and their humanity. I hope you liked it.

A news byte before I sign off-- the previous drabble in this collection, "Why?" was nominated for two Orion Awards by the amazing missLivia. I hope you'll take a look if you haven't already.

And of course, please, please review and help encourage me to get over my writer's block and finish Collision!

Lily