Sing Your Way to Happiness [Tanya]

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Let's see, where was it again..." Astrid looked over a directory near the entrance of the mall, quickly scanning the entertainment section of it. She'd seen a karaoke place while exploring the mall to see what was there, but hadn't actually gone in. Or taken care to remember where it was. Now that she needed it though, she had to find it all over again.

Earlier, she'd found Tanya in the commons looking pretty down, and had insisted that they go out and have fun together. Possibly dragged, and she might have done so literally if it came to it. But fortunately, it didn't, and they'd managed to get as far as the mall without too much trouble.

"Hmm...oh! There!" she said, spotting the place on the map, just around the corner from where they'd come in. "Come on, we should get in before it gets too crowded," she said excitedly, glancing back at Tanya and gesturing for her to follow.

[Lillipup Egg: 1/10]

[Tanya Christianson]

Astrid had managed to catch Tanya on her rare moments where she missed her family. She was wondering how well her brothers were doing, having not heard from any of her family recently. When Astrid insisted on going out to town, Tanya decided to go out with her. More out of curiosity about where she was going to take her.

"Where are we going?" Tanya asked, tilting her head in confusion while Astrid went about trying to find some mysterious place. She seemed to be focusing on the entertainment section yet she couldn't be sure what Astrid was actually trying to find. Fortunately, it seemed her question was about to be answered as Astrid gestured over to follow her. Deciding to just go along with it, Tanya didn't even realize where they were until they went inside.

"We're doing karaoke?" She had a momentary look of horror, which she managed to quickly rearrange into a smile. The most singing she ever did in public was in her shower. She had never sung in public before and now she was at a karaoke place. Taking a deep breath, Tanya tried to compose herself and have a good time about it. Maybe it could be fun. Hopefully, Tanya wouldn't be completely awful behind the mic. Then again, maybe that was the point.

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Mm-hm!" Astrid answered, nodding. The brief look of horror on Tanya's face didn't escape her, even if she quickly hid it with a smile. "Oh, don't worry about it, you'll be fine. It's a private room, so it'll just be the two of us. And even if anyone else can here, nobody's going to remember or care after they leave. So let's just have a bit of fun." She smiled, brimming with confidence as she led Tanya into the establishment.

She gave a wave to the man running the counter as they entered, saying a quick "Sherinian. Party of two." The man did a double take, but faced with a firm stare from Astrid quickly nodded. "How long?" he asked. "Half hour should be fine. I'll pay for more if we need it." The man quickly nodded again, then led the way to a private room. Along the way, he explained in a somewhat rushed manner that they could order snacks or drinks whenever.

Once they reached the room he opened it for them, revealing a booth large enough to fit several people, along with the TV, microphone, remote, and sound equipment obviously necessary for karaoke. A few water bottles were already in the room as well, evidently complimentary. Astrid stepped inside, grinning as the man returned to the counter. "Total fanboy," she remarked.

[Lillipup Egg: 2/10]

[Tanya Christianson]

It seemed Astrid managed to pick up on her momentary feeling of fear as she reassured her that it would only be for them two. That made her feel better about the situation. She was still somewhat worried about singing in front of Astrid, thinking that Astrid must have some confidence in singing if she took her to a karaoke place. This was probably one of the places where she should just leave her worries at the door, so she made an effort to do just that.

The guy seemed to be surprised by Astrid. She was impressed by how cool and composed Astrid seemed when she was ordering. Maybe she was a regular patron at the karaoke bar or something. Whatever the case, she managed to book them a room for just the two of them. Tanya nodded her head in response to Astrid's remark. The use of fanboy would imply a following of some sort. Was she really that popular around here?

"Have you been here before? I mean, the guy at the counter seemed to know who you were." Tanya asked, moving towards one of the couches and sitting down. Having never been in a karaoke bar before, a lot of the things that were on display seemed foreign. She was just going to let Astrid take the lead with this.

"So, what now?"

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid laughed. "No, no, this is my first time actually coming in here," Astrid said. "I still get noticed every now and then, though. I mean, I'm not all done up or anything out here, but..." She trailed off, coming to a sudden realization. With how much she'd just casually talked about shows and singing she'd assumed that Tanya had already made the connection, but just didn't mention it for her sake. But no, it seemed like she really didn't know about Astrid's past life.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" Astrid asked in a knowing, teasing tone. "Alright, I guess it's time for a good introduction." She switched on the TV, bringing up a list of artists to choose from. She scrolled down through them until she found her superstar stage name, 'Luna', and picked it. Naturally, quite a few of her more popular songs were there, although there was one in particular she was looking for. Thankfully, despite never being released as a single and her only occasionally getting to sing it live, it was there: "Stairway to the Stars."

"So what now, is that I start us off with one of my own songs," Astrid said, clearly enjoying this. She took the microphone in hand as the song started up with a fairly typical pop rhythm, then soon jumped into the lyrics. Astrid hit the beginning perfectly, and quickly proved as she sang along that she had a powerful singing voice and a very wide range. That was part of why Astrid chose this song to sing. While her opinions of what she sang as 'Luna' were very mixed, and even this one had some pretty cheesy lyrics looking back at it, she still got the occasional chance to show off her talent in some of them. And "Stairway to the Stars" was a shining example of that. Plus, if Tanya was familiar with the song, she would find that, obvious difference from a more mature voice and different sound equipment aside, Astrid sounded just like the recorded vocals.

And finally, with a drawn out final note that slowly faded, the song was over. Once the song cut off and the karaoke machine went back to the menu, she sat down again and grabbed one of the water bottles. "What do you think?" she asked.

[Lillipup Egg: 3/10]

[Tanya Christianson]

"You're Astrid, aren't you?" Tanya replied rather dimly. Was Astrid ok? She probably should ask if she was ok, but Astrid continued talking so Tanya went about doing the thing she did, shutting the hell up. Leaning back on the couch, she tilted her head as Astrid went through a bunch of songs and chose one by the name of some artist, Luna. She had never heard of Luna before.

When Astrid began singing, Tanya eagerly watched her. Oh god, she was so good. Tanya realized that when she said that she was going to sing one of her own songs, she meant that she was Luna. Wait, Astrid was a pop star? Why did she never tell her? This was so totally awesome! She probably should talk to her more about it sometime, but for now, she just wanted to enjoy herself.

Once Astrid had finished, Tanya got out of her seat and started clapping. "Wow! That's really awesome!" Tanya congratulated looking really happy. However, as soon as she stopped clapping, she gave a mock sad face towards her friend before poking fun at her with a pretend despair voice. "How am I supposed to follow up an act like that? You have no soul."

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, she looked towards the TV and started to scroll through the songs. Hopefully, this place would have the artist that she was looking for. Letting out a happy sound, Tanya managed to click on the artist, then move onto a song called "Shiny Smile". "I used to listen to this all the time back at home. Hope you enjoy the performance."

The song started with light tunes and a happy melody. Once the words appeared on the screen, Tanya began singing them with gusto. Occasionally swaying her hips to the song, Tanya sung the song with confidence and joy, letting her worries escape as the songs light melodies overtook her and made her feel at ease. Once the song was finished, Tanya turned towards Astrid and gave her a smile.

"So, what do you think?"

((For an idea of what the song is like and how she sounded, check out: this))

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Ahaha, sorry, sorry. I was going to ease into this a bit, but you were acting all cute and clueless, so I couldn't help myself," Astrid said, laughing. She leaned back on the couch, opening the water bottle and drinking from it. Somehow, she managed to drain half of its contents in almost one go. She sighed contentedly, then set it back down, looking back up at Tanya and the TV. Seemed like she picked out a song from around the same time and genre. Maybe a bit older?

Despite all her trepidation, Astrid noted, Tanya really got into it once she started singing. It was like the song had chased off all her worries and let her get carried away in the singing. Which, of course, was entirely the point. Astrid smiled broadly as Tanya continued, and applauded when she finished and turned back to her.

"Very nice," Astrid answered. "At this rate, you could go pro too. I'm sure people would love to hear you." She nodded, then took the remote again. Rather than going with another of her own songs, she scrolled through the list until she found something she'd sung in karaoke a couple years before, while going incognito with some of her fans. It was a foreign song back home, although now that they were off the coast of Hoenn it would seem less so. As the koto line opening the song started, Astrid jumped up and took the mic again.

The song was more instrumental than her own, and tended towards electronic with some traditional instruments mixed in (fitting for the song itself, a mix of an old folk song with something more modern), but Astrid matched them nicely with powerful and emotional vocals. She moved with the song this time, gently and gracefully at times, then bouncy and with plenty of-hip-swaying with others, as they fit with the rhythm.

Then, once the song ended, Astrid dropped back onto the couch, as though running out of energy. "Whew," she said. "I kind of want to do my own cover of that one sometime. Who knows."

(Lillipup Egg: 8/10)

[Tanya Christianson]

"Haha thanks." Tanya sheepishly said, blushing in embarrassment when she went back to her seat. She knew Astrid was probably overexaggerating, but Tanya did sort of like the idea of singing for crowds. Then again, she already had her heart set on pokemon battling. Maybe there was a way to do both? That would be pretty cool.

Tanya enjoyed Astrid singing. Sure, she was this Luna person, but to her, Astrid was Astrid. Nothing more or less. It was sort of funny how things like that happened. Her brothers, from what she knew, were not really into the Idol scene. Tanya herself was ambivalent. She liked singing and everything, but didn't actively look for idols to follow. If she found a song she liked though, she tended to listen to it repeatedly until it was stuck in her mind. Come to think of it, she maybe should've payed attention to the idol scene more. After all, contests were like a stage performance. She could probably learn a lot.

"That would be pretty nice." Tanya commented, jumping up from her seat. "I guess I have to try and match that, huh?" It soon became apparent that Tanya was treating this like a competition. She knew she would probably lose, but she was having fun thinking about their time together like that. Giving a proud smirk to Astrid, she turned towards the panel and started to choose her song.

In a start contrast to the previous song she sung, the song Tanya had chosen this time was more dark, with a electric guitar strumming in the background and drums smashing in the background. The song sounded more mature and when looking at Tanya dance to the song, her eyes were made to look like they were leering and her movements were more sexual in nature. In response to the feeling of the song, Tanya put more strength into her voice to give it a more grungy feeling.

"Well that was fun~." Tanya said cheerily, her entire demeanor changing when the song finished.

((For an idea of the song, look here))

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Well if you think you can, then go for it," Astrid challenged. She grinned, clearly confident in her own singing ability. Being a pro for not quite four years and working on coming back even stronger once she was ready, Astrid wasn't about to lose out in singing to anyone. It was pretty clear at least that Tanya was starting to treat this as a competition, rather than being nervous about it as she had been before. That was good. That was a big part of the reason Astrid had chosen this place.

She sat back as Tanya sung her next song. It surprised her, after how uncomfortable Tanya had seemed talking about romantic subjects, to hear her next song and see the very suggestive dance that went along with it. Compared to the last song Tanya had sung, it was almost like seeing Astrid's own transformation, from where she was as Luna to where she was headed in the future. And...well, Astrid couldn't help but enjoy watching Tanya's dance too. Not that she'd admit it to her face. Yet, at least.

"So that's how we're going to do it now?" Astrid asked once Tanya was done. "I think I can swing something like that. Not bad, but you're still going to have to try harder than that to match me." She took the remote and flipped back to the artist from her last song. She scrolled down until she found one that fit what she wanted, and started it up. The music opened with a fadeout of one of the group's other songs and the sound of a car revving up and driving off. Then the guitar started up, setting the mood for a fast and aggressive song right away. Astrid's apparent tired state melted away again as she jumped up, took the mic, and started singing. Despite the lighthearted tone, the song had some very questionable lyrics, and Astrid matched them with a suggestive dance routine. All still in relatively good taste, of course, but if she'd performed the song as Luna it would have raised a lot of questions about her supposed innocence. Her voice remained clean, light, and high in pitch, but no less strong than her last two songs.

Then, when it was done, Astrid's energy seemed to vanish all over again and she dropped back onto the couch. "Your turn," she said, already thinking of what she might try performing next.

(Lillipup Egg: 10/10)
((Song reference here.))

[Tanya Christianson]

"You think that's the best I've got?" Tanya retorted, smirking at Astrid as she went up to pick her song. Tanya was having much more fun than she thought she would, considering herself to be in a friendly competition against her first opponent on the island. She wasn't going to win, owing the fact that Astrid used to be a pop idol, but she wanted to give as much of a challenge as possible.

Once again, Tanya was impressed with Astrid. She pulled out more talent out of nowhere and completely rocked the song, noticing that she had put in some hip movements and sexual actions like she did. While she did put in those moves, Tanya recognized how it didn't seem to be in-your-face about it. Maybe that just came with being a pop star. Once Astrid had finished her song, Tanya clapped loudly, jumping up from her seat.

"Righto." She said, moving over towards the panel and choosing a song. "You know, even though relationships are a thing that freak me out, a lot of the songs that I sing do deal with those feelings ironically enough." Tanya chuckled at herself, finding her choice in music a little odd considering her nature. "Maybe it's cause I can express myself through music without having to worry about what others think or if it's the right way to feel. It's odd, but it's a thought that I've occasionally had."

Once she picked her song, she closed her eyes, lowering her head and listening to the piano play out the introduction. Once the piano stopped though, she lifted up her head and belted out the first part. From there, an electric guitar started playing and Tanya began to dance. It wasn't sensual this time, more aggressive as the song seemed to be about lament. A mixture of feelings were portrayed through her voice, which at times was agressive and at other times was soft, filled with sadness and longing. Her face contorted to the emotions of the song, letting them wash through her and her insecurities about the world. By the end of the song, Tanya started to sweat.

"I guess you're up again." She stated, sticking out her tongue as she flopped back into her seat.

((Song reference here))

[Astrid Sherinian]

"That's the beauty of music," Astrid said. "It lets you express yourself in ways you can't always do otherwise." She wanted to ask why Tanya was so uncomfortable with relationships, but...eh, maybe another time. Right now it would just kill the mood. So for now, she left it at that as Tanya picked out another song. Her next song seemed to mix aggression and sadness, and conveyed some very strong emotions. She was sweating by the end of it, and flopping back on the couch the same way Astrid had been.

She stood back up again, looking visibly tired for a moment as she flipped through the song choices again and settled on one. It was another one by the same group as her last two, but then, that group did already do a lot of things that she wanted to do with her own style from here on. Driving electronic instrumentals mixed with electric guitar, matched with strong, emotional vocals. All she needed was an electric violin as well.

She imagined the introduction played on such a violin, up until the percussion picked up. Then, she seemed to fill with energy once more as she took the mic and started. This time, while she still danced with the song, it was much more subdued and limited primarily to hand motions. Her voice, while still as strong as ever, was far less energetic. Instead, she sang with a much sadder tone, clutching the mic tightly until her hand shook with it. As she continued, she clearly got more into the song. Her voice was melancholy, filled with sadness to the point that by the end of it, her eyes were read and she had turned away just enough that it would hopefully be less obvious.

By the time she was done, she ran one hand over them, then dropped back onto the couch, looking just as tired as she had been before. "I wonder how much time we have left," she said. There were still quite a few tracks that she wanted to sing. "Ah well. I did say I'd buy more if we needed it. You're up."

((Song reference here))

[Tanya Christianson]

It was nice to hear Astrid agreeing with her or at least voicing a reason why she felt that way. Music was something she probably should appreciate more, considering how it had helped her get over some of the tougher times in her life. While she wasn't immediately going to tell Astrid about it, she still felt an attachment to every song she sung, like a part of her was in the words that came out of her mouth.

Seeing how much emotion Astrid put into her singing, Tanya could feel the vulnerability. It was a very touching song and she felt herself humming along silently, a little smile on her face as she bounced slowly to the beat. At the end, Tanya noticed Astrid's eyes, but elected not to say anything, especially considering how Astrid acted afterwards. Knowing that she probably should just move on, Tanya got up and started selecting her song.

"You sure you don't want me to put some money into this?" Tanya asked, feeling guilty about how Astrid insisted on paying for the day. It made her feel a bit like a load, but then again, they were still having fun. Maybe she should stop worrying about stuff like that and instead have fun. Once she found her song, Tanya picked up the microphone.

This song was different to the previous two, as it had a slower beat and a softer melody. Tanya's voice matched the song, starting off soft and getting louder as she reached the climax. Her eyes were closed throughout and she felt her emotions welling up inside of her, threatening to bubble over when she reached the top of the climax. However, the song seemed to be a positive song, filled with hope and purity and her pure voice reflected the emotions she intended to portray. When she finished, Tanya exhaled and opened her eyes.

"I'm not sure how much time we've got left, but I assume that the people will tell us when we're finished, right?" Tanya asked.

((Song is here))

[Astrid Sherinian]

"No, don't worry about it," Astrid answered. "In the future? Maybe. But this time it's my treat." She smiled gently at Tanya, as though the sadness that seemed to build up over her last song had evaporated in an instant. She downed the rest of her water bottle while Tanya sang her next piece, a slower and gentler song that gradually built up to a strong, emotional climax. Then once she was done, Tanya asked if the staff would tell them when their time was up.

"Probably," Astrid said. "That or this stuff will shut down, but I don't think they'd do that. How embarrassing would it be if it just...stopped in the middle of a song?" She laughed awkwardly, then pushed herself back to her feet. Well...their half hour was probably almost up either way, so she took a bit longer to search through the available songs just in case. If this was going to be her last song, then she wanted to go out with a bang. If not, then anything else would just have to be an encore.

"Ah, here we go," she said, taking the mic. The introduction for her next song started, with a low, dark piano line completely different than anything she'd sung up to that point. She too started singing low and soft, only standing out over the background by virtue of how little background there was. It took over a minute, but the song did slowly start to build up. Astrid's voice rose in pitch. The background started to grow in complexity and intensity, and eventually even added additional voices. Then, as it hit a high point, a guitar line kicked in and the song proper kicked off, changing into a slightly faster rock piece. Astrid's vocals, meanwhile, remained melancholy, but began growing stronger, more emotional, and wider in range. Again, her body movements were primarily restricted to hand gestures, but the song was much less of one that would be danced too. The movements, this time, were little more than accents to her voice. Eventually, the song built up to a climax, jumping very high in Astrid's range before a continuation of faint background vocals, guitar, and piano concluded the song.

She exhaled deeply when she was finally done, just in time to hear a knock on the door. "Oh...I guess we're done," she said softly. "How in the world did I survive shows two or three times this long?"

((Song reference here.))

[Tanya Christianson]

"Yeah, that would be horrific." Tanya said, shivering at the thought of the song cutting off halfway through, leaving her singing really loudly on her own. It probably would be best to shove that thought as far away as possible and not think about it. If it did happen though, she'd probably complain to the manager of this place and- nope. Stop that. Tanya shook her head once Astrid had chosen her song, as if shaking out thoughts out of her head.

When the song started to pick up, Tanya decided to close her eyes, letting Astrid's vocals wash over her and take her on a journey. With music, there were times where it felt like her spirit left her body and drifted in the air, flying through various worlds that reflected the essence of the song. Playing games helped her immerse herself in the music, especially since her favorite genres normally had amazing music. While she was tempted to pick a gaming song, she doubted that the karaoke machine had it. Astrid probably wouldn't know the games either. Then again, Tanya never asked her.

Once the song was over, she opened her eyes just as the door began to knock. "Aww? It's over already? It felt like no time at all!" Tanya whinged, putting on a sad pout before pushing herself off the couch. "You're a pretty awesome singer Astrid. I'd love to sing again with you sometime. Heck, it might be fun to do a band or something in the future. Then again, we probably should focus on battling and whatnot since that's why we came to this academy. Then again though, singing is a lot of fun and with that new club thing that's happening, it could be possible to make clubs that are outside the curriculum."

That last thought made her pause, looking in thought for a second. Outside the curriculum. That means they could do contests as well! An idea popped in her mind as she flicked her head quickly at Astrid.

"You know how the academy lets us make a new club. I wanna do a contest club! Wanna be a founding member?"

[Astrid Sherinian]

"A band, huh? I always thought I'd be going back into the business solo again, but...hmm, I'll think on that. As a school club or something though, that could definitely work." Actually, now that she thought about it, that wasn't a bad idea. Plenty of people liked making music, and having an official(-ish) group to do it with that would give them an opportunity to do so that wouldn't involve roommates yelling at them for keeping them from studying or sleeping. Then, since she'd actually been in the business, she could also help the more dedicated musicians decide if they want to try to go pro or just keep it as a hobby.

On the subject of clubs though, Tanya soon brought up a contest club. "Well...I've been to a few contests while I was touring, and more or less know how they work. And I've managed to save a few outfits that can be used for them, so sure, I think I can help, though. One condition though, if I make a band or music club here, you have to help me too."