DiapOut: Chapter 4
“Welcome back, kiddos! Big thank yous to our sponsors for making this show possible!” said CassiRole as she placed her arms around the two contestants standing to her right and left at the center of the sound stage, “Now it’s time to introduce today’s players!”
The chorus of applause practically shook the foundation of the building as the spotlight turned from Cassi to Mia and Kyoko. Standing proudly, Kyoko waved to the audience, putting her time as captain of the debate team in high school to good use. Mia, on the other hand, meekly raised her hand to acknowledge the audience, unable to suppress her discomfort.
Behind the starring trio were the other six players, all of whom were waving with their respective team captains. Well, almost all of them. With her arms folded over her chest, Ayaya held a stoney expression, still too bitter about being removed from her rightful role as team leader. The rest of them wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for her. Sure, Mia was why she went viral, but it was on her account with her filming the whole thing.
As Camera 2 finished trucking to the right to get a shot with only Cassi and Mia, Cassi turned on cue. Placing a hand microphone in front of Kyoko’s mouth, she carried on with team introductions, “Let’s start with the Wetters! Tell us a bit about yourself and your team.”
If all eyes weren’t on Mia before, they certainly were now. “Um, hello…my name is Mia and these are my friends…,” she said, her voice barely registering in the microphone.
“Cut!” shouted the director, who abruptly stood from his cloth-backed fold-up chair and made his way onto the stage walking right up to Mia. “Cassi, great job as always,” he said, paying quick lip service to his leading actress before shifting his attention to Mia, “Mia, my darling Mia. We’re going to need you to speak a teensy-weensy bit louder. We can’t have your beautiful voice getting washed out by the audience, now can we?”
Looking up at the director who stood nearly a head taller than she was, Mia could feel the guilt for causing production to halt creeping up on her, which did nothing to lower her anxiety. For a brief moment, she thought she heard the host mutter under her breath “amateur”, which only served to further annihilate her self-esteem, regardless of if it was just her mind playing tricks on her or not. “S-Sorry, I’ll try to speak up more,” she said, her head sinking down.
“Ta, ta, ta! There is no try Mia. There is only do,” said the director before giving Mia a condescending pat on the head.
Taking a step forward, Ayaya raised her hand to interject, “Um, if Mia is too nervous, I can totally take over as team captain. Not to brag but I do have over 11,000 Twitch subs.”
“That’s nice, but uh…no,” said the director bluntly before once again rotating his attention back on Mia, much to Ayaya’s dismay, “Okay, Mia, before we go for another take, I want you to look out at the audience and say this phrase loud and clear. ‘I’m a big baby and I’m proud!’”
In an instant, Mia’s face twisted itself into the kind of reaction you’d only see in a horror movie. “Wait, what?!” she shouted, taking a step back from the director, “C-Can’t you just let Ayaya do it? She’d be a lot better than me at it and-”
“Nope! We’ll stand here all day if we have to,” said the director, quickly closing the gap between himself and Mia, “Now, go on! If you can say something as embarrassing as that loud and with gusto, then surely introducing yourself should be easy-peasy.”
With a face as red as a perfectly ripened apple, Mia looked out into the dimly lit audience, unable to distinguish more than silhouettes. Sadly, it didn’t matter if she couldn’t see their eyes staring her down. She knew they were there. Sneaking a glance back at her team, she hoped to find encouragement from her friends. But between Misa practically crying from holding back laughter, Ayaya looking as though she wanted to stab her, and Lelaya visibly lost in her own world, she failed to find the comfort she was looking for.
Taking a deep breath, Mia dug deep to find the confidence she needed to utter those degrading words. “I-I’m a big baby and I’m proud,” she said, wishing she could melt away into a puddle and sink into the floor. Her timidness produced an awkward silence from the audience with a few idle chuckles here and there.
“Oh, you can do better than that. Let me show you,” said the director, giving her a hardy pat on the back. Straightening up his posture, he took in a wealth of air, making a big show of it, “I’m a big baby and I’m proud!”
The audience went wild at the director’s statement, cheering on his confidence and bravado. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect on Mia, who felt ashamed of her inability to speak up. With emotions welling up inside of her, she felt as though she could burst into tears at any second.
“I’m a big baby and I’m proud!”
All heads suddenly turned to look at Misa, who had gotten over her case of the giggles at Mia’s expense. While she did like to taunt and tease her bestie into blushy oblivion, she wasn’t about to hang her out to dry, especially with the way this director was putting her on the spot. Besides, it was the least she could do since she was equally responsible for Mia’s Baby New Year stunt. Winking at Mia, she hoped to give her the confidence boost she needed, “Go on, we’re right here with you.”
If Mia felt like she might cry before, seeing her typically devilish friend stepping up to bat for her nearly started the waterworks. Wiping the moisture from the corners of her eyes, she nodded to Misa in gratitude and turned back to face the audience with refreshing vigor. Inhaling deeply to calm her heart, she stared down the menacing silhouettes and shouted, “I’m a big baby and I’m proud!”
The crowd lost it as Mia finally found her voice. A surprising warmth took hold of her chest. It wasn’t wholly a comfortable feeling but it was certainly welcome.
“That’s the spirit! Okay, everyone, we’ll come back in on Camera 2 with your line, Cassi! Places!” yelled the director, causing the dozens of crew members to launch into action. Within seconds, everything was reset to how it was before Mia’s flub.
Rushing to the side of Camera 2, Keelee held her hand up high with each of her five digits spread out. “We are rolling in 5! 4! 3!” she said, lowering her fingers one at a time before going silent for the last two seconds. As soon as all five fingers were down, she pointed at Cassi to cue her in.
“Let’s start with the Wetters! Tell us a bit about yourself and your team,” said Cassi, repeating her lead-in for Mia.
Looking deep into the camera, Mia blocked out the world around her and let herself get into it. “Hey there. My name is Mia, though you probably know me better as Baby New Year,” she said, getting a soft chuckle from the live audience, “My friends and I are thrilled to be here today. We’re gonna go out there and give it our all!”
“Wonderful Mia, or should I say Baby New Year?” said Cassi, whipping the audience up into yet another frenzy. The crew member in charge of shushing the audience was quick to silence the energetic crowd so that Cassi could resume, “We look forward to seeing you wagging your cute little diaper butt as you compete for the grand prize!” Extending her arm, she and Mia shook hands, bringing their introduction to a close.
Then, as soon as the spotlight had shined down on Mia, it was over, at least for now. Cassi shifted to Camera 3 with Kyoko and the Messers team, allowing Mia to decompress. This whole thing was starting to feel like an out-of-body experience to her. As Kyoko droned on about her college club and why she was competing today, she cracked a subtle smile as she looked around at the studio, the audience, the crew, everything. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she wanted to soak it all in while she had the chance.
“That’s fantastic! I wish my school had an ageplayers club when I was your age, which based on your outfit can’t be more than one or two years old,” said Cassi, resulting in a giant wave of laughter from the audience. Kyoko could only blush and giggle along with the audience, enjoying both the teasing and the attention. Stepping forward toward Camera 1 as it cut back to the wide shot, Cassi widened out her arms like a circus ring leader and shouted, “Now that we’ve met our teams, let’s get Round 1 underway!”
TO BE CONTINUED…