Inside Out reImagined

The First Impression

Admittedly, Riley's emotions didn't have high expectations for what the school would turn out to be like. As evidenced by the Daydreams being commanded like there was no tomorrow, she just plain didn't care, and though the differences between Riley's two lives were debated by the emotions for as much time as they got on the matter, most of the debates concerned the home, not the school.

Nevertheless, Riley was on the correct floor, and with the help of little arrows, it was easy to find the only room in the school where there would be any sort of activity during the day.

For a moment, Joy thought that the posters on the Daydreams were getting kind of weird. Though they depicted Riley front and center, they never mentioned her by name; they weren't supposed to, as no one with a functioning Consciousness Grid would write the name of the only person standing between the aggressive and the vulnerable. She quickly reacted, taking out the Daydream.

Soon enough, the poster transformed. It still happened to say "Riley Andersen" in English letters, but it neither depicted Riley's face nor had any sort of anti-bullying slogan; instead, Riley was simply acknowledged as the "international student", alongside text in Chinese that none of the emotions could read.

"Well, look who's the star!" Disgust said, feeling practically on top of the world.

"It'll fade and Riley will become just an ordinary student. Remember: punching bag of the crowd." Anger pointed out, wanting to bring his coworker down to Earth.

"Remember! Positive thoughts only. Especially on a first impression; isn't that right, Disgust?" Joy called, turning to her left.

"Grass is green, sky is blue!" Perhaps the biggest joy in the mind was the joy of being recognized by, well, Joy, and the smile on Disgust's face didn't look like it was going to fade for a long time.

"Although, I must say that the sky hasn't exactly been 'blue' while we've been here, at least, not the way I see it..." Fear pointed out, feeling that between the Chinese text and the sky color, Riley as a whole had been taken not just to a foreign country, but to an entire alternate reality.

Having heard from Disgust, Anger, and Fear, Joy only needed to look back to ensure that Sadness was doing her thing. Indeed, once she looked back, she saw the circle and a lone blue teardrop sitting inside.

"We'll talk about that later. Now, let's take China by the storm!" Joy exclaimed, taking Riley to the classroom door.

When Riley opened the door, she was greeted to a fairly typical spectacle for a party held within the school grounds, but outside the usual schedule. There were takeaway boxes and plates everywhere, and students were anxious to take a bite — at least, as far as the emotions could read the expressions of Chinese people.

What was rather suspicious, though, was a lack of pizza or any other sort of Western food, excepting perhaps soft drinks; it seemed the Chinese really liked their local cuisine, not giving much thought to the Western culture that otherwise seemed to penetrate everywhere.

At this sight, Disgust's smile faltered. "Do you think we can eat each and every bit of this?" they said, trying their best to identify anything local.

They did not mean to say that the Andersens didn't enjoy an occasional Chinese takeaway, too; even in America, the family didn't necessarily rely on pizza, as pizza could have all sorts of toppings, and a category like "Chinese food" was more predictable. In China itself, though, this might not have been a trustworthy heuristic anymore.

However, Joy was significantly less worried, especially since to her, it sounded like Disgust was suggesting eating it all. "First of all, we're sharing! With..." With more typing on the console, she made Riley look up, and the sight was... something.