"When my mother was alive I didn't see my father very often. I have a vague memory of being very small and asking Mother who he was and she stifled a laugh and said 'that's your father' and I asked 'what's a father?'"

"- how sure are you this memory isn't fabricated?"

"--I guess not completely. But I really didn't see him very often, he was busy with his business and usually came home later than our bedtime."

"I could see this being realistic when you were three but I can't remember being three..."

"Oh, I do. At least, I think I do. Not much, just a few individual flashes. Mostly involving learning to read." 

"Heh. I can't remember not being able to read."

"I can't remember not being able to read at all but I do remember not understanding that p h makes a 'f' sound and stubbornly insisting that the main character of a board book was named 'Puh-hil'."

"Hee!"

"I also remember insisting on reading Jaromira's bedtime story once because I was proud that I could." 

"You read first?"

"Yeah, we're both smart but I'm smarter." 

"Congratulations."

"She's far more skilled with people, though, and I like learning more than she does and she likes people more than I do, so we both find the situation quite satisfactory." 

"Sounds good. Xander's more arty than I am, hence the foray into nitpicking my garb."

"Specializing differently is one of the many wonderful things about being a twin." 

"Having one just like me would have been fun too, but differently."

"Having a twin who was just like me would be fun in some ways but I would be concerned that we would--encourage each others' flaws instead of balancing them."

"I would handle this by not having any flaws to exacerbate, problem solved!"

...Giggle. "That works too! I don't think it would work as well for me." 

"It's an inexplicably unpopular strategy."

"I mostly manage my flaws by having Jaromira spot-check me, which would be much harder if my twin had the same blind spots I did."

"Maybe I am actually terrible and don't know because spot-checking me is not one of Xander's hobbies."

"You don't seem terrible to me! I'm not specialized for spot-checking you in particular but I do spot-check my sister, I assume some of the expertise transfers."

"Hmm. Well, go ahead and let me know if you discover latent horribleness."

Giggle. "I will.

"...Also, you probably don't have a single biggest recurring flaw and a history that exacerbates it. My stepmother has not done wonders for avoiding misanthropy."