Inside Out reImagined

Hearts Mended across the Ocean

Naturally, the eyes of both Sadness and Joy were drawn towards the Consciousness Screen, and the two decided not to discuss anything, anymore, instead listening in on the other emotions.

And, as it would happen, Disgust had quite a few words to say. "Why is Zhou Shilan reacting? Is it..." They motioned towards their head, where the headset Joy had just Imagined could still be found — and the same held true for Anger and Fear. "Right. Headsets off. Again. They just appear at the worst times... even this new Joy still finds ways to annoy..."

At the time, Joy had already gotten a running start and wanted to jump up to her high chair, leaving Sadness far behind. Yet, that remark from Disgust — "even this new Joy" — made her stop. Of course, Sadness noticed — and once she caught up, she picked Joy up and put her on her high chair, regardless, before taking her own seat right next to her.

Nevertheless, it didn't seem like Joy had caused that much of an inconvenience. The three other emotions simply took off their headsets, and Fear reported: "It's our tablet! Someone's calling us!"

It was him and Disgust who allowed Riley to react: "Right... someone is calling me... you should stay behind..." She then, before Shilan could say anything or even process English, turned through the rooms — and found her favorite Chinese tablet in one of them.

The caller, funnily enough, was Meg — precisely the person whom Joy wanted to bring up. She immediately jumped to make Riley answer the call, before pouring out: "Hello! Did you get trapped anywhere? Is it Riley's fault? Is it my fault?"

Disgust sighed to themself, before moving to explain, once again: "For the record, it's us who are trapped impossibly far away. Meg is just... home. She doesn't have this whole crisis about where her home is, is it Minnesota, is it Shanghai..."

"What?" Joy only asked.

"She isn't hurt!" Disgust finished, before noting: "But she does look like she needs some sleep, though... at least, that's as much as I can see, this darkness isn't helping..."

"What time is it for her, anyway?" Fear asked. "Should we look it up?"

"We should ask her!" Joy insisted — and hit the console based on her insistence.

In turn, Riley spoke: "Hello! Sorry, had a bad day yesterday... out of curiosity, what time is it for you?"

Meg took a bit of time to gather herself, before responding: "It's... I have no idea, early morning? Pre-morning? Point is, I just couldn't find a good time... to call you..."

"Right." Riley noted, with Disgust being the primary driving force, though Fear and Joy had both offered input of their own.

Meg, though, seemed to have something else on her mind — as much as those in Riley's mind were aware of Meg's. "Wait, you said you had a bad day? Was it because I talked about the new girl?"

This time, Sadness knew it was her moment. Though she wasn't present in Headquarters at the time of the supposed incident, nor had she caught up on it on The Mind Reader, this singular clue — "the new girl" — told her that there was an incident, after all. And though she didn't know who this "new girl" was, she knew that someone like that was present in Riley's life, too — and that was everything that she needed to understand Meg.

With Sadness's insistence, Riley spoke, rather awkwardly: "Not really... it's just natural... to seek new friends... once you no longer have old ones..."

"So? Have you been doing that? A real Chinese friend would be so cool!" Meg asked.

She had caught onto Riley's angle, and Sadness continued directing Riley's actions — and her eyes. Thus, momentarily, Riley glanced to the room's door — only to find Zhou Shilan peeking through, as the door was slightly ajar.