If I wanna get spanked, I'll just go mouth off at home.
[Her little retort makes it sound a lot more naughty than what the truth actually is. Between her shitty cousin and hateful parents, Mai is spoiled for choice when it comes to picking an unwinnable fight with her elders. So, she'll wrinkle her nose at Nana-- though it's moreso at the status she's trying to stake a claim on rather than the woman herself.]
Better earn my respect if you want it so bad, then, old lady.
[There's enough bite in her words to show Nana that Mai won't play along without a little bit of eye-rolling and reluctance. Mai is lacking in many things (some she'll admit to, and others, not to much)-- with respect for most adults being one of them. Really, it's like people race towards adulthood thinking that they'll automatically be seen as someone important, that 'everything will change' when they're no longer a child. It's stupid and silly, especially when one realizes that all of the grown-ups in their life are still stomping and trampling over whoever they can to reach a top that doesn't exist.
Mai isn't stupid enough to think that she'll ever each that point in her life-- if she ever makes it that far-- but Nana is like Maki, wanting to snatch that prestige for herself and never let it go. And they're so painfully alike that they have sneaky little naysayers doing their damndest to sway the court of public opinion. Mai almost wishes she had never looked up Nana Osaki, never pulled back the layers of her pretty mystery like the pages of some tawdry magazine. Because now she knows too much-- but that's an inequality between Mai and Nana that tastes too bitter to gloat about.]
Whatever you want. You're the singer here, not me.
[She accepts the microphone, feeling its weight in her hand. Certainly not her weapon of choice. She imagines that Nana wields it with effortless confidence. She has to. Mai wants to see it-- even if those Sapporos likely won't be arriving until this first song is nearly over. Maybe Nana doesn't want to be gawked at like the spectacle she is, but Mai isn't about to turn to stare at a wall to make whatever stage fright there is go away. She always judges a bit too harshly, especially when she feels that creeping feeling in her gut that she's about to be proven wrong.
The song that Nana picks starts up, the first few electronic notes totally unfamiliar to Mai.
'Hey baby, hey baby, hey!' go the opening lyrics to this energetic tune, a style of music that the younger girl can't imagine herself ever listening to on her own. But hearing Nana's voice, low and with a delicious rasp to it when she sings, makes the song appeal to her in a way that's unique to this whole experience. Mai's eyes dart between the colorful lyrics on the TV screen, swelling in time with the music, and Nana's lips purring the verses before raising her voice to inject energy into the pre-chorus. Is it more a feast for the ears, or the eyes? Mai can't decide, but she'll think about it as she gets the hang of the chorus enough to chime in with Nana's "Hey baby, baby..."
There might even be a growing amount of enthusiasm in Mai's accompaniment, despite the embarrassment that wants to wage war on her paltry talent for singing.]
no subject
[Her little retort makes it sound a lot more naughty than what the truth actually is. Between her shitty cousin and hateful parents, Mai is spoiled for choice when it comes to picking an unwinnable fight with her elders. So, she'll wrinkle her nose at Nana-- though it's moreso at the status she's trying to stake a claim on rather than the woman herself.]
Better earn my respect if you want it so bad, then, old lady.
[There's enough bite in her words to show Nana that Mai won't play along without a little bit of eye-rolling and reluctance. Mai is lacking in many things (some she'll admit to, and others, not to much)-- with respect for most adults being one of them. Really, it's like people race towards adulthood thinking that they'll automatically be seen as someone important, that 'everything will change' when they're no longer a child. It's stupid and silly, especially when one realizes that all of the grown-ups in their life are still stomping and trampling over whoever they can to reach a top that doesn't exist.
Mai isn't stupid enough to think that she'll ever each that point in her life-- if she ever makes it that far-- but Nana is like Maki, wanting to snatch that prestige for herself and never let it go. And they're so painfully alike that they have sneaky little naysayers doing their damndest to sway the court of public opinion. Mai almost wishes she had never looked up Nana Osaki, never pulled back the layers of her pretty mystery like the pages of some tawdry magazine. Because now she knows too much-- but that's an inequality between Mai and Nana that tastes too bitter to gloat about.]
Whatever you want. You're the singer here, not me.
[She accepts the microphone, feeling its weight in her hand. Certainly not her weapon of choice. She imagines that Nana wields it with effortless confidence. She has to. Mai wants to see it-- even if those Sapporos likely won't be arriving until this first song is nearly over. Maybe Nana doesn't want to be gawked at like the spectacle she is, but Mai isn't about to turn to stare at a wall to make whatever stage fright there is go away. She always judges a bit too harshly, especially when she feels that creeping feeling in her gut that she's about to be proven wrong.
The song that Nana picks starts up, the first few electronic notes totally unfamiliar to Mai.
'Hey baby, hey baby, hey!' go the opening lyrics to this energetic tune, a style of music that the younger girl can't imagine herself ever listening to on her own. But hearing Nana's voice, low and with a delicious rasp to it when she sings, makes the song appeal to her in a way that's unique to this whole experience. Mai's eyes dart between the colorful lyrics on the TV screen, swelling in time with the music, and Nana's lips purring the verses before raising her voice to inject energy into the pre-chorus. Is it more a feast for the ears, or the eyes? Mai can't decide, but she'll think about it as she gets the hang of the chorus enough to chime in with Nana's "Hey baby, baby..."
There might even be a growing amount of enthusiasm in Mai's accompaniment, despite the embarrassment that wants to wage war on her paltry talent for singing.]