Have a short scene, continuing a subplot that you've already started...
As soon as the two of us were alone, Eimi exploded. (Figuratively.) "That... that... her! Could she have been any ruder?"
Eimi's outburst puzzled me. "'Her'? 'Her' who? And what was so rude?"
"That 'mad scientist'!"
"Oh. Her question about you living in a box? It wasn't that bad, Eimi."
"Not the question! Her addressing you about my feelings when she knew I was right there!" She started to sing - not play back a sound file, but actually sing in her own voice. "He sang as if he knew me, In all my dark despair, And then he looked right through me, As if I wasn't there..."
I didn't even think of that. Yes, looking at the question through Eimi's eyes, Mayumi-chan wasn't a paragon of tact just then. "Oh. Do you want me to talk to her about that?"
"What? No!" As Eimi continued, she started to calm down. "No, that would just make things worse. She'd think she was right in asking you about what I want instead of asking me directly. But thank you anyway."
"Then I don't know what I can do for you."
She sighed. "Don't do anything, Doug. If Asai is going to think of me as a thing instead of a person, then I can simply ignore her completely."
Oh, boy. A lot of misconceptions - on all sides - had to be cleared up before somebody's feelings were hurt permanently. But how?
For the acknowledgments: Lyrics to "Killing Me Softly with His Song", written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, performed by Roberta Flack, copyright © 1973 Atlantic Records.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
As soon as the two of us were alone, Eimi exploded. (Figuratively.) "That... that... her! Could she have been any ruder?"
Eimi's outburst puzzled me. "'Her'? 'Her' who? And what was so rude?"
"That 'mad scientist'!"
"Oh. Her question about you living in a box? It wasn't that bad, Eimi."
"Not the question! Her addressing you about my feelings when she knew I was right there!" She started to sing - not play back a sound file, but actually sing in her own voice. "He sang as if he knew me, In all my dark despair, And then he looked right through me, As if I wasn't there..."
I didn't even think of that. Yes, looking at the question through Eimi's eyes, Mayumi-chan wasn't a paragon of tact just then. "Oh. Do you want me to talk to her about that?"
"What? No!" As Eimi continued, she started to calm down. "No, that would just make things worse. She'd think she was right in asking you about what I want instead of asking me directly. But thank you anyway."
"Then I don't know what I can do for you."
She sighed. "Don't do anything, Doug. If Asai is going to think of me as a thing instead of a person, then I can simply ignore her completely."
Oh, boy. A lot of misconceptions - on all sides - had to be cleared up before somebody's feelings were hurt permanently. But how?
For the acknowledgments: Lyrics to "Killing Me Softly with His Song", written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, performed by Roberta Flack, copyright © 1973 Atlantic Records.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012