"Watch Out!" Fear pulled a lever, causing Riley to dodge just in time to avoid getting clonked by a screwdriver.
"You okay honey?"
"Yeah dad, I'm fine! It missed me."
"Great." Dad Andersen leaned out over the attic hatchway. "Could you hand it back up to me? Thanks."
"Nice save, Fear!" Joy slapped the lanky emotion on the back.
Fear adjusted his bow-tie "well, yes, just doing my job."

It was Saturday, and although there was no school, Riley was staying busy. First there was an early-morning hockey practice, which gave Anger almost as much of a workout as Riley, as he was the best at channeling the necessary energy and focus. Joy, of course, kept things sportsmanlike. Right after practice, Mom took Riley shopping for winter clothes. Autumn was right around the corner, and even if the moving truck had arrived, Riley's old winter-wear was getting threadbare, not to mention too small. Of course, that called for Disgust to take point, with Joy once again maintaining the good attitude, even in the face of Mom's refusal to buy them a watch to match the theme Disgust had fixated upon. Then, after a fine lunch of chicken sandwiches and lemonade (with fruit-cup, as Mom insisted), it was back home to help with cleaning the house.
Normally, this would just be Riley's chores: a full tidying of her room with dusting, and vacuuming the carpeted portions of the house. This weekend, however, Mom and Dad had decided to take advantage of their lack of furniture to effect minor repairs and scrub the house top to bottom. Dad lugged around his tool set caulking windows, tightening hinges, and replacing electrical sockets and light bulbs. Meanwhile, Mom touched up bits of paint and the stucco ceiling. Riley was given the responsibility of using the rented Rug Doctor to deep clean the carpets; once that was finished, Dad had her help him by holding screws, fetching tools, and sometimes actually using the tools, because "handiness is a virtue," as he liked to say, so teaching Riley some home improvement skills was high on his list of priorities.
Currently, Dad was finishing replacing the attic hatch hinges, which had rusted enough to make it hard to open.

"How are we going to get our homework done in time for the movie at this rate!" Disgust groaned, flicking a knob.
"Yeah, Riley's been working all day! We need a break." Anger agreed, though he didn't look up from his newspaper.
Joy, ever unflappable, replied "Oh come on, this is fun! The fresh clean smell, helping Dad with home stuff, and having time to daydream!"
Sadness looked up from behind the newest Mind Manual, 'Expanded Console Mk IV, Volume 7: Miscellaneous Buttons.' "Didn't we read somewhere that these chemicals are bad for Riley?"
"Oh come on, they're perfectly safe. Mom and Dad wouldn't put us in danger like that," Joy preempted Fear, who almost triggered a 'hold breath' airborne toxin contingency. "Speaking of daydreams, should I put in the next cartridge?" She held up a small square card, on which was encoded a daydream from one of the indie producers just outside Dream Productions proper.
"Let's ask Dad," Disgust gingerly touched one of her controls.
"Hey, Dad? Are you almost done?" Riley asked cautiously. "I want to finish my homework."
"Ooh, nice touch with the homework. That'll convince him." Anger mumbled.
"Okay." Dad stretched as he came down from the attic. Making consideration noises, he tested the new hinges. "Yep, I think that's it. Go ahead; you don't want to miss the movie tonight."
"Thanks Dad!" Riley quickly set down the box of screws she had been holding and raced to her room; it was quite clear who had the most influence at that point.

Soon Riley was knee-deep in pre-algebra problems, and her Emotions had some time to stretch, move around, and generally take a break. Fear brewed a fresh batch of tea in the kitchenette, Disgust went to retouch her makeup, and Anger went to unload a fresh Train of Thought delivery, including a set of Absent-Minded Humming cartridges which he lugged, grunting, over to Joy at the console.
"There you are; one perfectly useless set of mindless tunes," Anger said, half kidding.
"Thank you Anger, you're always such a help." Joy exaggeratedly patted the little brick, perfectly willing to employ her own sarcasm.
"Yeah yeah. Just be careful. You know what those tend to trigger."
"What?"
"You know. I don't want to say it."
"Oh, that. I'm sure nothing will happen, you'll see." Joy plugged in the first cartridge, similar to the way in which daydreams were used. Riley began humming a rendition of the Chicken Run theme, which all the emotions but Disgust had enjoyed. Anger, placated for the moment but still wary, moved back toward the delivery hatch.
Joy and Sadness were again alone at the huge console, and with not much else to do, Joy asked, "What'cha reading about?"
Sadness hesitated at first, still somewhat unused to Joy being sincerely friendly, and quietly replied: "Oh, nothing much. This is the new manual. I want to make sure we know what we're doing, and don't press the wrong button and mess everything up."
Joy was still having a little trouble with accepting the pessimistic view, but at least Sadness was being practical. Joy preferred to wing it and hope things worked out, but Sadness' knowledge of the manuals had proved useful in the Incident, so she didn't mind. She casually switched out the cartridges, causing Riley to smoothly transition to a medley of "You're his Cheeseburger" and "The Pirates who Don't do Anything." "Anything stick out in particular?"
"Well, don't tell Anger, but," here Sadness leaned in and whispered, "There's a safety switch on his board which makes any swear he chooses come out garbled."
Joy laughed, covering her mouth with her hands in a valiant attempt not to let everyone hear. Sadness resumed in a regular voice,
"Then there's the puberty button-"
"The what?"
"The one with the cover and the warning coloring."
"Oh, so THAT's how you say it!" Joy face-palmed, giggling.
"Yeah, well, this says it's supposed to trigger huge, life changing, uh, changes."
Joy leaned forward expectantly. "Like?"
Sadness shook her head. "It doesn't say, beyond 'this is necessary to continue to develop.'"
Joy glanced over at the button. "Why not just press it then?"
Sadness swallowed. "Well, you see, it lists a bunch of side effects, like mood swings."
"What's a mood swing?"
"It says it changes the 'balance of power' between the emotions, but that's it."
Joy was made slightly nervous hearing that. What kind of anarchy, or just plain destruction, would happen if Fear, or Anger, got the power? Or even an overpowered Sadness? Empathy and sorrow is one thing, Depression is a whole other ball game. But, remembering Riley's mom's advice with shots: "Shouldn't we just get it over with then?" Her voice wavered slightly, unsure now.
"Well, it says we should wait for a good time, and we have until Riley is almost fourteen. It's a long process anyways that can last different amounts of time, so we can wait until we find out some more," Sadness suggested.
"I agree," said Fear, returning to the console. "We can't just go pressing the button with warning signs all over it, now can we?"
Disgust also made her way back, a fresh shine in her hair. "Of course you would agree, Fear. Your whole thing is caution!"
"Oh! So do want to press the button then?" Fear shot back.
"Maybe. It would be funny to see your reaction!" Disgust raised her voice just to the threshold of shouting.
"Ooh, a fight!" Anger walked back in, rubbing his hands. "Let me just get the pop-"
Suddenly guitar chords sounded, and Riley's humming spontaneously changed tune from the "Fur Elise" remix that Joy had just put in. Everyone groaned.

"Triple Dent gum, will make you smile!
Triple Dent gum, it lasts a while!
Triple Dent gum, will help you mister,
to punch bad breath right in the kisser!"