-The Princess and the Genius-
#3 Stones
"Not this one."
Aelita pulled a face and Jérémie leaned over to press a button on the side of his computer. The disc drive opened, and he plucked the latest disc from the player before returning it to its case and tossing it back onto the pile. There was a clattering of plastic as he rifled through the sizeable stack of CDs on his desk, flipping some over to glance at the track lists. Finally he found what he was looking for and, after a moment's pause, lifted it out of the pile.
"Maybe this one?" he suggested, holding it up to show Aelita the cover.
"We might as well give it a try."
"They're an English band," Jérémie continued in explanation as he loaded up the disc, "but my dad really likes them. And they're actually one of my favourite too." A slight blush accompanied this admission and he fidgeted in his seat as the music began to play, watching Aelita's face intently to see her reaction. He had known her for only a few days, but in that time they had talked about so much that it felt as though it had been years. Aelita was infinitely curious, desperate to know more about the real world, and Jérémie was eager to oblige. Today, they had spent the morning trying to find out what kind of music she liked.
Soft music and ballads, especially piano, made her feel a sad kind of emotion which she couldn't quite explain to Jéremie, and she didn't care much for the heavy metal that he had pilfered from Ulrich's CD collection. Now Jéremie was pitching some of his own favourite music to her, and as with everything else he shared with her of his personality and interests, he badly hoped she approved.
Aelita listened as the song began to play, a steady, catchy guitar riff and a man's accented voice emerging from the computer speakers. Although she didn't understand the words, she soon found herself nodding her head to the beat, drumming her hands on her folded knees.
"So, what do you think?" Jéremie asked hesitantly after a minute or two.
"I really like this one. I think it might be my favourite so far," she said, and he grinned.
"I'm glad you like them. Should we play the whole CD?"
The morning drifted slowly into afternoon. Aelita sat on the floor of a Lyoko tower whilst Jérémie occupied the chair in his bedroom, and two people were connected across two worlds as the boy's music flooded hers with sound and energy.
Later, when Jérémie had to leave, Aelita stowed those few hours carefully away as one of her fondest first memories upon waking on Lyoko. Consequently she remembered them, and the Rolling Stones, many months later when she had to choose her name.