A/N – If my timeline of pop culture is off for the series – and I recognize that it is, sometimes – please forgive it and try to read past it. I don't want to listen to Korn or Nirvana or other bands that were popular in the late 90s all the time when I'm writing these :P
#21 – Inspiration
Tobias
I consider my meadow my home. It is, for all intents and purposes. It provides me with food and shelter. But I guess humans get a lot more than that from their homes – entertainment is a big part of what it means to be human. It's where Marco gets the inspiration for his jokes. Jake gets a lot of his from the internet; sometimes, when I visit him, he's online, reading up on famous leaders in history. You know, Napoleon, Patton, guys like that. Sometimes, he "relaxes" by watching older flicks. I've watched most of Tombstone with him, and I've caught some of other movies. He seems to favor westerns featuring famous lawmen, or tales of heroes in the more recent wars. It makes sense. Jake doesn't see himself as a hero – I promise you that. It's more like he watches them to remind him what he's supposed to be like, how he's supposed to think.
There's not much entertainment to be found in my meadow. Ax kind of provides that for me – he's become an enthusiastic student of the human race, and most of what he studies comes from pop culture. He gets bored with movies, but TV shows are shorter and able to keep his attention. He's also giving music a try – he claims all human music is terrible, but he likes to decipher the lyrics. A lot of times, he asks for my help. I don't mind, because trying to explain them helps me figure them out. And some of them inspire me.
Most of his collection comes from Marco – Marco passes along his older CDs when he gets tired of them. Most of them, music-wise, hit my ear all wrong, and I understand why Ax doesn't enjoy it. But there are always hidden gems in the words, regardless of whether they're whined or screamed or whatever.
(I understand the meaning of the phrase, but I do not understand the context. It seems like this human is screeching about romantic love, but then an out-of-place phrase will interject itself.) Ax seemed to think about it. (Oh! Is that the point? Is he trying to tell two stories simultaneously?)
I didn't laugh, even though it was funny. Ax always jumps to the most logical conclusion, never realizing that logic rarely has anything to do with being human. (No. He's trying to make his point by way of a metaphor.)
Ax's main eyes narrowed. (Ah. A metaphor. A creative way for humans to misunderstand each other.)
This time, I did laugh. (That's one way to look at it, I guess. What lyrics are you talking about, exactly?)
He rewound the CD and played the part in question. (You see? He seems to be discussing a relationship…using many "metaphors," of course. But then, out of nowhere, he says, "Move like a fugitive tonight." Being a fugitive is a negative thing – why would he ask his female companion to do this?)
It was a fair question. I thought about it before replying, (Well, I think he's not talking about one girl in particular. I think he's referring to the sneaky nature of girls in relationships. Not that I'd know,) I added, almost to myself.
Ax shook his head and ejected the CD from the player. (I like trying to figure out the differences in what humans sing and what they mean. But this group uses too many metaphors to keep up with.) He looked at the CD thoughtfully with his stalk eyes. (I am of the opinion that this particular human songwriter is not even sure what he is talking about. Maybe he is simply what we call a Salander – someone who uses high level language, grammar, and wordings in an attempt to confuse instead of explain. Perhaps he is not really saying anything. Maybe he only wants to appear deep and meaningful.)
The insight blasted me. It was so simple, but so logical. (It is a tale told by an idiot – full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,) I muttered, remembering the only line of prose from Shakespeare that I had memorized. It caught Ax's attention.
(Yes! From your tone, that is a quote from another famous human, no?) I agreed. Ax looked at me eagerly. (I would hear more about that human. He sounds…very…Andalite.) I laughed, and started to tell him everything I knew about William Shakespeare.