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“Marissa, I keep trying to write more about Susan Journeyer, but it just doesn’t seem true to the human experience. Can you read it again?” Thundercracker sighs down at Marissa, cradling Buster in his hands.
“Yeah, I can read it again, TC, but maybe you should take a break. You’ve been plugging away at this for awhile.” Marissa pats Thundercracker’s foot and gives him a smile. Thundercracker has clearly been struggling with his...novel, screenplay, whatever medium his project is right now.
“I don’t know. Maybe if I just try harder to understand human culture, it’ll click. What can I do to understand humans better?” Thundercracker carefully sets Buster down and Marissa crouches down to pet Buster when she runs over.
“We’ve been over this. Human cultures are all different. It’s hard to explain ‘human culture’. I can’t really help you understand human cultures that aren’t just white American culture. Maybe not even a whole lot more than east coast culture.” Marissa shrugs. Thundercracker frowns.
“There must be some way I can better understand humans. How do humans better understand other humans? Or what’s important to all humans?”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of humans to try and find something that’s important to every human culture,” Marissa laughs a little. “Humans spend a lot of time try and failing to understand each other.”
“Well, what do you do to understand each other? Maybe if I try to understand humans like a human, I could.” Thundercracker leans down, wings pricking up eagerly. “So what do humans do?”
“Well...” Marissa doesn’t object when Thundercracker picks her and Buster up. She’s long gotten used to it. “We try to learn each other’s languages.”
“I already speak all the human languages,” Thundercracker says in confusion, “though I don’t understand why you have so many of them.”
“Because we developed languages different? I don’t know. I didn’t study linguistics. It’s still weird that Cybertronians only have one language. But anyway. Lots of people say that you understand a culture if you speak their language. Like...I don’t know. If your language doesn’t have a word for freedom, you wouldn’t understand the concept. It’s not really true. We’re not that constrained by our languages. But...anyway.” Marissa shakes her head.
“Okay.” Thundercracker seems doubtful and slightly concerned. “So if the language thing wouldn’t work...what else?”
Marissa plops herself down into Thundercracker’s hand. It looks like this conversation is going to go longer than expected. Marissa might as well be comfortable. Buster flops down in Marissa’s lap.
“I don’t know. We...” Marissa wracks her brains. “We say you should look at their art. What they put into it and how they do it.”
Thundercracker considers this. “Art...so like what? Movies, or pictures, or writings?”
“All of them,” Marissa replies. “Everything you can get hold of.”
“So what should I start with?” Thundercracker asks eagerly. “What do you think?”
Marissa stares up at him. “Oh, TC, there’s so much human art. I wouldn’t know where to start. I haven’t seen most of it myself.”
“Well, what’s a thing you like? I want to see that,” Thundercracker says eagerly. “Whatever it is.”
“I don’t know. I’m not very artsy, and it’s not like I have a whole lot of free time to keep up with that sort of thing. I wouldn’t know what to tell you.”
“You must have something you like, Marissa! Please, tell me about it,” Thundercracker pleads. Marissa sighs. She’s long learned to read his body language. He’s tilted his head and tipped his wings in that way that means he’s not going to give up anytime soon. It wouldn’t be so bad to tell Thundercracker about one movie. Just one.
“Okay. Okay. There’s one movie I watch sometimes. It’s dumb, but it’s fun, and it’s pretty famous.” Marissa is never going to hear the end of this if word gets out.
“What is it?” Thundercracker leans in a little closer. “What’s it called?”
Oh God, she’s doing this. “Legally Blonde. It’s on Netflix. I can login at your place and we can watch it.”
“Right now?” Thundercracker asks, and Buster yips at the excitement in his voice.
“Sure. We can watch it right now.” Marissa nods and is glad she’s sitting when Thundercracker immediately stands and starts walking. It’s a nice day, and Marissa is almost sad to be carried into Thundercracker’s hangar. Not that it isn’t comfortable since she brought things like a chair and snacks and even a cot.
Thundercracker sets Marissa down on the ledge in front of the massive screen that’s designed so that she can sit there and use the keyboard set up for her. Buster sits at at her feet and wags her tail. Marissa logs onto her Netflix account, which is only slightly strange to do on a government computer. As the opening music begins to play, Marissa lets herself be picked up to sit on Thundercracker’s shoulder. She’s glad of it; her ledge was close enough it was going to be like watching a movie in the front row of the theater.
“Can I ask you about things as we watch, Marissa?”
“Sure, TC,” Marissa says graciously. It’s not as if she hasn’t seen the movie enough times to talk through it. It’s maybe a mistake.
Within five minutes of the movie beginning, Marissa has had to explain the college application process, which is apparently relatively familiar to Thundercracker, and the idea of fraternities and sororities, which are not. Then she has to explain feminine stereotypes and blonde jokes. Thundercracker sits attentively through each explanation, and by the time the credits are rolling, he’s nodding solemnly, as if he’s learned some new truth.
“Well? What’d you think? Do you understand humans better now?” Marissa asks.
Thundercracker considers. “Maybe. I don’t know. She loved her dog a lot though, and that made sense to me. Maybe the rest will click later.” He reaches out to gently rub Buster’s back with one finger.
“Yeah, I bet it will, TC.” Marissa pats his shoulder. “You want me to take a look at your writing again?”
“No, I think I’ve got to let all the new things you told me sink in first. Can we watch another movie, though? Something else with dogs?”
Marissa laughs. It figures that the dog was Thundercracker’s favorite character. “Yeah, sure. I’ve got a kid’s movie I bet you’ll like. It’s called 101 Dalmatians.”