Inside Out reImagined

Reminiscing Riley and... who again?

"I'll tell you what now, so listen really closely." Disgust began, ready to answer Joy's question, even if it might not have been entirely serious — or honest, for that matter. "Now, we all make sure that I... I mean, that Riley gets enough refreshment time that the laws of electromagnetism didn't allow her to take on the flight. And that is going to be my duty and mine... actually, no, now that I think about it, Fear might prove himself useful."

"Wait? What? How exactly?" Fear stepped in, generally knowing that times when his name was called weren't usually to congratulate him on a job well done.

Nevertheless, his attention was called, and Disgust was more than ready to explain his task to him. "You see, our favorite Chinese tablet might be technically functional, but it's still in a critical condition. You will have to make sure that we don't accidentally unplug the charging cable. You got that?"

"Oh. Of course. Gladly, madame." Fear said, confirming that indeed, he got that.

However, at times, it really took just one word to send Disgust on a tirade that only Anger could hope to match. "What? Don't you dare 'madame' me!" they shouted out, suddenly making Fear want to hide behind the console. "I'm not... I thought we agreed that I wasn't exactly a girl or a boy! I'm still figuring everything out! For myself and for Riley! Until that point, for me at least, it's they/them strictly, you get me?"

"Oh, but you do seem to have this 'primadonna' vibe going on." Anger stepped in, once again being delighted by any opportunity to tick Disgust off.

They, in turn, only groaned. "Ugh! Why am I stuck with the worst emotion team ever?"

Sadness, on the other hand, only knew that maybe Disgust shouldn't speak in hyperbole all the time. "If you... if you may... we still don't really know what's inside other people's heads..."

"And who ever asked for your opinion?" Disgust spoke, with more venom in their voice than usual. "Me. Us. Riley. Our favorite Chinese tablet. No other people. No other distractions. Now, if you'll let me and Fear..."

They, however, found themself interrupted by Anger. "Wait. Are you planning on indulging in one of those ad-ridden, pay-to-win games?"

"Yeah?" they countered, as quickly as they could. "Unless this hell-hole of an apartment has WiFi by some miracle, that's the best we're gonna get, for now. Why?"

"Seems like it's gonna be frustrating. Seems like I'll be needed." Anger answered.

"Yeah. Fine." Disgust had to admit defeat. "Just... do your thing. And that, I suppose," they said, looking to see who might have been excluded, "leaves just Joy and Sadness, who... are they gonna interrupt us with pointless nostalgia again?"

"Oh, come on, I would never..." Joy answered, half-laughing.

"Yeah. No. Not on my watch." Disgust dismissively spoke. "You may have the whole 'happy girl' thing going on, but right now, this is clearly my moment. Would you... I need you to... where do you come up with solutions like the gas mask from earlier on?"

"Solutions? For what exactly?" Joy had to admit that she hadn't been exactly paying attention, knowing that she needed to take the back seat to Riley's action and not caring about much else.

Disgust only facepalmed. "Alright, it seems like the airhead is gonna need another explanation. As you can see," they said, gesturing across the Consciousness Screen, "Riley obviously isn't under a lot of social pressure to be happy or whatever. Therefore, she's gonna relax with a video game of some description, a task for myself, Fear, and Anger. Which means we three need some sort of way to not be able to be bothered by you and..."