Inside Out (no title yet, sorry)

[Medowsweet]

Okay, I've been intrigued by the concept of the emotions as... Well as walking embodiments of their emotion. Since watching Inside Out I have been talking to my friends about what our brain emotion people are doing at this moment. I've been hoping to see an Inside Out sneezefic but the only one that has shown up has been quite short (not blaming you, I get writers block too!), so I thought I'd write my own.

Riley is about 16, more or less, doesn't matter, "highschool aged", about to go on her first -real- date.

This is going to switch around from the point if view of various emotions. (More fun that way, playing with voice and with point of view!)

Joy

I felt a strange tickle in my nose. Not like when we're tickled in the ribs or on the bottoms of our feet by the ever ominous squiggly fingers! This tickle was much softer, gentler... But not like being tickled by a feather either... It was... more prickly, almost tingly... more insistent. Almost like when Riley had to sneeze... Only this wasn't Something -Riley- felt. When Riley had to sneeze we ALL felt it, of course, and the room sorta had this static in the air, and Riley's breath would start to hitch, and the lights would begin to-

"Hep-Chiew!!"

That was weird.

Four sets of eyes were suddenly locked on Yours Truly, all with varying flavors of distress. Fear had lept nearly three feet. Disgust looked... Well, disgusted as usual, she curled a lip and leaned away, shielding herself with her hands. Sadness... Well, you know Sadness! She looked how she ALWAYS looks, like someone had just run over our puppy. It was Anger who voiced what they had all been thinking, "What the Hell was that!?"

Yeah, we swear now, ever since we became a teenager Anger's picked up a whole new vocabulary. We have to work hard to reel him in- especially in front of Dad. At least if we want to have any kind of social life, and, as Disgust is always pointing out, we DO.

"What?" I asked, shrugging, "It was just a sneeze. It's no big DEAL!". I did my best to play it off as flippant and carefree- which I'm good at, because that's my job.

"I didn't know emotions COULD sneeze.". Sadness said in her quiet and dreary voice. Thanks a lot, Sadness. Good job. Let's worry everyone why don't we? Great! That's super!

"Suuure we can!". I said reassuringly. "Why couldn't we? We sleep? Right? We laugh, we cry- why couldn't we- uh... aah...". The tickle was back. I quickly glanced around to try and see if anyone else seemed to be able to feel it.

Apparently they couldn't.

"Don't even THINK about it!" Disgust said in a warning tone of voice and moved away from me. Fear was ringing his hands, he was almost cringing. I had to nip this in the bud and fast!

"Guys, Guys!". I said, as bright and sunny as Minnesota summer. "I'm fiiiiine! Don't worry abou- heh-huh-HEP-CHIIIEW!!!".

Okay, that coulda been timed a liiiiittle better...

"Joy?". Sadness asked, approaching me timidly as though she was afraid she was speaking out of turn. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Of COURSE I am!". I said again, giving my first a chipper swing. "It's just... Uh...." Dust made Riley sneeze, but if it was dusty in here we'd all be sneezing (at least I assume that's how it would work). "It's just a -thing-!" I landed on. "Things happen!"

And before this crew could start to worry and fret and ruin Riley's good mood by becoming a bunch of downers I added, "And speaking of things happening!!!". I quickly popped a bright yellow ball (tinged with purple, thanks a lot, Fear) into the memory recall beam. "Riley has a date tonight!"

They All leaned forward across the council to watch as Matthew, the cute new boy from Los Angeles with hair like an angel and emerald eyes (just saying!) asked us out to a movie on Saturday night. (We've played that clip at least fifteen times (a day!) since then).

"Okay, Disgust, you're in charge of the outfit, we need to look -perfect- but also like we're not trying to impress him!"

"Oh, don't worry, when I'm done Matthew won't know what hit him." she said, "Rev up fashion island!"

"Sadness, you need to make sure Riley comes accross as compassionate, yet nuh-not...-". Not NOW!- " huh-Chh!". Super. "Not dreary, okay?"

"Are you SURE you're okay?" Sadness asked, ever persistently negative.

"I'm fine!" I said, but before she could go on, "Anger! Make sure Riley has an edge- but doesn't come across as grumpy."

"Who me? Grumpy?" He said, as though the thought were unheard of, and yet he seemed a little proud of it nonetheless.

"Fear!"

Fear jumped. "Way ahead if you, Joy! I've already listed the 12,000 things that are most likely to go wrong, the top two are ill timed bodily functions and meeting our parents!". He sounded proud of himself. I shuttered at that last one.

"Okay! Well then, I'll be in charge of the council!". I ran over to the council and hit the smile button, "Making sure Riley is cheerful and charming and-"

Riley sneezed the moment my hands touched the controls.

We all felt it. I jerked my hands away suddenly. That was a COINCIDENCE of course! It had to be! Gently, I re-took the controls-

And Riley sneezed again, this time a little more harshly.

Uh oh! Oh no! Think positive, think positive, think positive...

I tried a more gentle touch, only tapping the buttons with the very tips of my fingers.

Riley sniffed and rubbed her nose. Her breath was a but twitchy, but she didn't sneeze. Okay! We could do this! We could DO thi- "Hipcchiew!" My hand just bearly nudged the control panel.

Riley laughed in a giddy sort of way that was inappropriate to her age and sobriety- then sneezed again and laughed as though her sneezing were hilarious! It was... A little disconcerting... A little.

"Geeze! What's making me sneeze!" She wondered out loud running her nose and clearing out the last of the giggles.

"I have a good guess." Said anger, glaring at me.

[LP]

Huh, you actually went ahead and did it, awesome!

I like you're writing, it's cute. I like how you wrote their interactions, I can see them saying everything they say haha.

Interesting how when Joy touches the controls Riley sneezes. It's got me wondering why Joy is sneezing though. Hmm, since Riley is sneezing because Joy was does that mean the other emotions don't sneeze when Riley does since it's caused by Joy?

I look forward to you continuing this, really want to see how this plays out

[sneezelover3]

This is good please continue

[TheWolfOfStone]

Oh, wow! This is super creative! Plsplspls continue, can't wait to see what happens next!

[Medowsweet]

Huh, you actually went ahead and did it, awesome!

I like you're writing, it's cute. I like how you wrote their interactions, I can see them saying everything they say haha.

Interesting how when Joy touches the controls Riley sneezes. It's got me wondering why Joy is sneezing though. Hmm, since Riley is sneezing because Joy was does that mean the other emotions don't sneeze when Riley does since it's caused by Joy?

I look forward to you continuing this, really want to see how this plays out

Hee hee! Told you I was gonna!

Glad you like it!

As I always say, keep commenting because I love comments!

Everyone else: thank you so much for comments, the next segment will be from Disgust's POV

[Medowsweet]

Disgust

No, no, no, no, -No-. No way! This was NOT happening. Oh no it wasn't!

"Move away from the controls, Joy". I said, and tried to shoo her away without actually THOUCHING her, because: Eww.

"I NEED to be here." Joy said, "Keeping Riley happy, and cheerful. It's a DATE! How will Matthew feel if we don't seem -happy- to be there?'

"What we have to be is not gross and looking contagious." I said, "Because, blech! You wanna make sure we never see Matthew again? Sneeze on him."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Joy said, stepping away from the control, "Just... Just gimme a second..." She was doing that -thing- she does with her hands, where she thinks she's about to come up with a good idea, but actually she's grasping at straws.

On the other hand, without Joy Riley was NOT looking forward to the date. There was just the fear of rejection and me (Are we getting fat? Oh, we are NOT wearing those shoes!)

"That's it! We're not going!". Fear decided and he ran for the controls, pulling a double lever.

"What are you doing!?" Joy demanded, "Of COURSE we're going! This is SO important to Riley!!!" She tugged the lever back the other way (Riley sneezed).

"We're going to be judged and rejected!" Fear paniced, tugging on the lever.

"I'll fix it!". Joy promised, tugging back. "I'll fih-hipchew!". She rubbed her nose and sniffed a little. (Riley expirence a sort of giddy panic. Good work, guys. Real smooth.)

"And what about THAT?" I asked, meaning that weird laughter Riley made whenever Joy sneezed while touching the console. "We are NOT doing THAT in front of Matthew!"

"I won't let it happen." Joy said, " I've got this! I've got an idea! You guys just do your things! I'll-heh- CHew!l I'll have this fixed in half a jiff!". And she darted away up the stairs to her room.

I had my doubts- I mean SERIOUS doubts, but I also had a job to do, and if there was even the teensiest, tiniest chance we were still going out tonight we had NO time to waste! We had to be perfect-- and we were currently a mess!

I flipped through memories of our favorite fashion magazines for inspiration. We had to be stylish and trendy, but not commonplace or overdone. Almost everything we got for our birthday was *hideous*! Mom still shops as though we were a kid. Take note, moms and dads, cool parents give GIFT CARDS.

After about 8 different tops and 5 bottoms I finally found something I could work with. It was a canvas, of course, because it was all about the make up and accessories, but it was at least a canvas worthy of building upon.

The next most important canvas was hair. We pulled our hair up, so I could see how that effected our cheek bones when-

"Whup-CCH! CCHUu!!"

That wasn't me. And it didn't sound like Joy either, it sounded almost like...

"Oh noooo!". Fear wailed in what was undoubtedly blind panic, "I've caught whatever Joy has!!!". He drew two long hands down his face and clasped them worriedly in front of him. "Oh this is aweful!! This is a DISASTER!". He grabbed my hand at the wrist- eww! "Do I feel feverish to you?" And placed it on his CHEEK- eew eew EEEW!!!!!

I snatched my hand back and held it as far away from me as I could. "Don't TOUCH me with your germ encrusted fingers!" I complained, sticking my tounge out in an attempt not to gag! "Yellch!"

"That's it!". Fear said, "The date's -whu-hup-ssSSHHCHUu-CHhu!!- off!"

I was almost ready to agree with him when Joy reemerged wearing... What looked like oven mitts made by a blind five year old.

I have no idea what she THOUGHT she was wearing, but it couldn't have been THOSE! Because if anyone KNEW they were wearing THOSE, they'd take them OFF. IMIDIATELY.

"Joy, what is on your HANDS?". I asked, and because Joy can be a little thick at times, I made sure she could hear the mix of horror and condemnation in my voice.

"Gloves!". Joy chirped, somehow sounding PROUD of the monstrosities. "This way I can touch the control panel without making Riley sneeze!"

I could tell by the way she held her breath and bit her lower lip that she wasn't as confidant with her theory as she wanted us to believe, but she marched over to the control console and gently pulled on the "calm down" lever.

It worked. AND Riley didn't sneeze.

"There, you see?" Joy said, brightly. "The date's still on!"

"Better make a pair of those for Fear." Anger said, and I could tell by how much he was enjoying this that at least he could see how ugly they were too. "He got whatever you got.". He thumbed over his shoulder at Fear.

Fear, as if to demonstrate, sneezed twice, doubling like whip with the force of it.

Joy's already round eyes widened, but she shook it off insistently cheerful again. "That's not a problem!". She said triumphantly. "I made extras!"

Oh goodie.

...and why did my nose itch?

[supernaturalfragalistic]

oh my god i love thissssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i feel like riley should sneeze on her date and have her date be all concerned every time she does and then have it be one of the most amazing memories or something!

[TheWolfOfStone]

oh my god i love thissssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i feel like riley should sneeze on her date and have her date be all concerned every time she does and then have it be one of the most amazing memories or something!

THIS!!!!!! Seconded!

[Medowsweet]

Hahahaha! Am unlikely to do this but: "and then it makes a new " core memory" and a new island of personality is born: sneeze island!"

... And she becomes a fetishist!

That's sorta what happened to all of us in a way (not sneezing in a date nessesarily, but we got new island called :sneeze fetish island: or some such at some point in our lives! XD )

Edited November 25, 2015 by Medowsweet

[LP]

Wow! Nice save Joy!

I love your way of writing Disgust, it feels pretty spot on to how she'd react in this situation.

I also love love love how you write their sneezes different. I found it funny how Fear's sneezes made him whip forward. Great description. This is shapin up to be a good story! I can't wait to see how it goes! You're a pretty cool person, Meadow.

[Hovercuke]

Wow, this awesome! I love the voices of each of the characters, it is so true to what they acted/sounded like in the movie

[singing_tw]

Fear jumped. "Way ahead if you, Joy! I've already listed the 12,000 things that are most likely to go wrong, the top two are ill timed bodily functions and meeting our parents!". He sounded proud of himself. I shuttered at that last one.

haha ill timed bodily functions like sneezing?

[Medowsweet]

Precisely like that *wink*

[LP]

Lel. Wouldn't it be 3 ill times bodily functions? Haha.

[Medowsweet]

Fear

Disgust was fanning her face with both hands and blinking rapidly. Her eyes were full of tears and she kept stretching her upper lip (I THINK in an attempt to itch her nose without actually TOUCHING it.)

"Not gonna sneeze... Not gonna sneeze....". She was repeating to herself in a breathy, desperate kind of mantra, her hands fluttering ever more frantically

"... Not gonna sneeze..."

"I give her about 5 seconds.". Anger said, with a nasty kind of chuckle, "heh heh heh."

He was ENJOYING this! I Could hear the hoofbeats of the four horsemen of the apocalypse of Riley's social life coming and Anger was ENJOYING this!

"Not gonna... NXNT! NGXT NGXT!! Unn, Oh god, okay I'm done-NGNXT! uhn."

She stiffeled each sneeze with her index finger, palm open, fingers slightly spread. And she had tried not to let them out at all. Now she was standing rigid, with her arms spread out, as though she had just been dumped with icy water.

"5 seconds on the nose!" I pointed out, I mean even tho we were all obviously ABOUT TO DIE, that was still a pretty impressive estimate.

"Oh no, that did NOT just happen!" Disgust said, and she looked like she was afraid to touch any part of her body with any other part of her body.

"Oh, this is so gross- and embaressing- I'm done-I can't." And she left, walking as tho she were were covered, head to foot in maple syrup and afraid to touch or drip on anything.

Now that that minor distraction was out of the way it was time to get back to business: PANICKING ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE ALL HAD CONTRACTED THE PLAGUE AND WERE ABOUT TO *DIE*!!!!! BUT(need I remind you) NOT BEFORE WE SUFFERED HUMILIATION AND REJECTION FROM NUMBER 2 ON THE LIST OF WORST THINGS THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN (ill timed bodily functions outside of our control- of which sneezing is one)!!!!!!

I, being the level headed emotion that I am, handled this with an appropriate degree of rational grace (running around the room and screaming about our impending doom).

That is... Before I was punched in the face by Anger for my enthusiastic concern for our well being.

Joy said something perky and reassuring, but I'm not sure what that was because I was too busy concentrating on flying through the room and impacting the opposite wall.

...ow....

"Well" Sadness was saying, as I crawled back to the control console and tried to calm down.

"You and Fear touched the lever at the same time" She was talking to Joy. "And then Fear got it, and then HE touched Disgust and now SHE has it..."

No I didn't- DID I?

"Wait! Are you saying this is CONTAGIOUS!?" I asked, and I don't remember but I *might* have fainted.

"That's what it seems like" Sadness said in her soft, sad voice.

I wasn't freaking out or anything, I was just spraying everything with the mental equivalent of Lysol because germs are potentially deadly and because I didn't want us all to DIE!

"Well," Said Joy, stubbornly cheerful, "Anger hit Fear, so if you're theory's right Anger will be the next to-"

"Wuuhp-SSCHU! Whu- SCCCHU!! Sorry, Guys, sorry. That was me." I clasped my long nose with both hands like a sausage to stop it from happening again.

Hasn't anyone ever noticed how TERRIFYING sneezing is? Not just because it's a sign that there is something wrong with you (which it is!) Or because you could sneeze while driving and CRASH and DIE!!! (Which HAS happened!) And not because your eyes are close and your body is outside of your control and ANYTHING can happen to you in those few seconds you're incapacitated! And not because you can't stop it and it's like the invasion of the body snatchers!!!! (Tho, now that I bring it up, THOSE ARE ALL VERY GOOD REASONS!!!!)

But sneezing was loud, and sudden, and shocking. It was like that horribly terrifying feeling when someone sneaks up behind you and shouts "Boo!"! Only in this situation it sneaks up on you and makes YOU shout "Boo!". (Figuratively speaking, of course.)

"Can't happen.". Anger said. "In case you nitwits haven't noticed *I* don't have a -nose-.". He sounded smug and self satisfied with that fact.

Do you know he's right? He doesn't! I had never particularly noticed that before.

"I don't think it works that way" Sadness said drearily.

"How'm I gonna sneeze without nose?" He asked, but his eyebrows were drawn together in the middle... he looked... worried... or... prehaps....

"Haaaaaaah CHRRRROOOOOOOO!" Anger exploded in the loudest mouth-sneeze I had personally ever heard- and the flame on his had erupted in a massive display that nearly touched the ceiling.

I know you are not surprised to hear I leapt backwards cringing, but I'll have you know everyone in the room was at least startled- even Joy! So what does that tell you?

That's it- we can't do this! I ran for the controls and Joy intercepted, physically blocking me from the console.

"Okay, okay,". She said, "Let's all caaaalm down. Riley needs us to focus right now- breath with me... C'mon, deep breath in". She demonstrated, sweeping her hands as though trying to drawn clean air into her- " hep-chew!" She sneezed into her tented hands.

Joy's sneezes were cute, soft, and high pitched. Perfectly harmless. (I jumped anyway.)

"Alright, Joy.". I said. I tried the breathing thing.

"There..." She said, placatingly, "feel better?"

You know I was actually starting to? Until I sneezed suddenly. "That's it- we're not going!"

[Hovercuke]

So sadness is the only one left... I think I see where this is going...

[sneezelover3]

Awesome keep going

[LP]

" I, being the level headed emotion that I am, handled this with an appropriate degree of rational grace (running around the room and screaming about our impending doom). "

I'm dying XD this is just so perfect haha, really does feel like something he'd say. Also love how Anger punched Fear across the room, you really got interactions between them down good. I'm usually not a big fan of pov stories, but this one's really good. The way you described how Disgust reacted to her sneezing is nice, I can really see it in my mind.

I find it funny how Sadness is kind of the voice of reason in this situation, it's odd but it's believable. Anger's logic actually made sense, I thought you were going to use that to get him to not sneeze in the story, and was pleasantly surprised when you actually did have him sneeze. Only one left is sadness. Looking forward to the rest of this! I'm quite thoroughly enjoying this