Inside Out reImagined

The Hidden Power

In a way, Sadness felt instant comfort from the swigs of the blue bottled memory. It was a pleasure unlike any other, to be reunited with the element of Imagination that was forcefully ripped away from her, and within seconds, another thought form could talk about Joy and Sadness wouldn't even turn her head — exactly what she wanted in the first place.

It, however, only took a few more moments before the effects from the bottled memory started settling in.

For whatever reason, though, the blue bottled memory affected Sadness really differently from the purple one. Whereas the purple one affected her instantly and altered her entire visual field all at once, it almost felt like the blue one's effect was radiating away from Sadness and into the mind around her. Yet, she still saw things that she wasn't supposed to see, all the same, with Cloud Town becoming a depressing urban landscape and its lone resident transforming from cloud to human.

Yet, Sadness was quick to realize that this wasn't any human, but the specific human occupying most of Riley's thoughts, and The Mind Reader article space — the alleged "Bully Prime".

When the cloud was given a specific shape and identity, it almost seemed as though her aimless movement throughout Cloud Town had also gained a distinct purpose. Now, she was going through the residential area, almost as though she were searching for something — or someone.

She still did not speak, though — and Sadness didn't speak to her, either, for she didn't know what to say.

Perhaps it was for the better. Untangling humans from the outside world was the job of Headquarters — which, yes, Sadness vaguely remembered that she was getting to it and seeing how she could put herself back in her place. Yet, until she did so, The Mind Reader could only tell her so much — and what it told her was completely out of alignment with her own thoughts. If she wanted to get at the core of what plagued the girl in the skull tee, doing it with a thought form facsimile of her wasn't going to do much, much less a thought form that only looked like a facsimile to Sadness.

So, instead, she allowed herself to just watch and idly pontificate her plan of action and ultimate purpose in Riley's mind.

Yet, she still had to mind the presence of Bing Bong — who, as it would happen, stayed as Riley's lovable imaginary friend, rather than becoming a Chinese boy or something. And, as Sadness was quick to note while looking at the extent of her changes, he was capable of just about everything but idle pontificating, as where any other thought form would be flabbergasted, he still uttered: "Sadness, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

The edgy emotion was quick to explain, working from how the purple bottled memory affected her before. "No... that's the point... these things give me really strong visions... and then I can just... lean back and drift into forgetfulness."

"Oh, okay..." Bing Bong was clearly shaking his head, as though something still didn't fit, but decided that Sadness knew better — as she always did. He then asked: "So, is this it? Can we start talking about Joy?"

That word still sent shivers through Sadness like nothing else. Yet, these shivers were almost calming, rather than making her freeze in place, and she answered: "Sure."

"Okay, then! Let me start by just asking... uh, just asking..."

It would seem that Bing Bong was at a loss for words, with regard to what to actually ask. For the longest time, while the two were busy making Cloud Town, he would mention Joy off-hand, and that would make Sadness defensive, and that would make Bing Bong even more curious. Yet, now that he finally got what he wanted, he realized that he had no angle to approach it from, whatsoever.