"When discussing a promotion."
A flicker of surprise, almost too fast to see, crossed her face.
Riley's emotions were once again watching visualization on the big screen as Riley read Heir to the Empire. It had been another marginally productive day slaving away over papers, and only a few minutes were left in the last period. Riley had finished her homework for the day at the beginning of study hall (though, as Fear would remind everyone, you can never truly study enough to be 'done'), leaving some free time. The emotions were unanimous in wanting to continue the story, especially in light of the 'no talking' and 'no phone' rules in study hall preventing social pursuits.
Sadness occasionally took notes of some of the expressive language; though she felt a little silly, she felt it might work as a way to figure out some more precise mixtures to try with the others, and one of the Mind Manual sections she read last night recommended it. Flickering surprise, maybe some Fear and Joy, short inputs? Just Fear? She turned back to the screen. No need to miss the story for minutiae; she could speculate later.
She was still suspicious. He could tell that from her eyes. Suspicious that the offer was a smokescreen to mask some more personal request or demand on his part.
"You don't have to answer now," he told her. "Think about it, or talk to some of the others who have been with the organization longer." He looked her straight in the eye. "They'll tell you, I don't lie to my people."
"What, does she think he'll ask her to kill someone?" Anger wondered aloud, albeit quietly. His only response was a shrug from Disgust. The emotions had enjoyed the end of the Han Solo and Dravis interaction, and both Mara Jade and Talon Karde were intriguing. However, some of the sentiments expressed took mild effort to understand; after all, why wouldn't you trust a respectable person? They rolled with it though; Riley chalked it up to different social context, if not in so many words.
"But bear in mind if you give me that kind of authority, I am going to use it. There's some revamping of the whole organizational structure-"
She broke off as the intercom on his desk warbled.
*Beeeeeeeep!*
The emotions jerked, a bit startled by the tone. "Since when did Riley start doing sound effects?" Sadness wondered aloud. Anger, who had managed not to fall over backward, retorted, "that's not the book, it's the bell!" He grabbed his levers and helped Riley get into gear, picking up her already packed backpack. Fear and Disgust worked to return the console to normal operating configuration, disconnecting the visualization cable. There wasn't any clean-up to do; the emotions hadn't bothered with snacks for such a short reading session.
"Slow down, Anger, we need to put the book away," Sadness chided the firebrand. Anger released his levers and watched impatiently as Riley paused by the door to open her backpack. Fear, finished with reconfiguring the console, took the chance to check the bag contents one last time.
"Oh, I just remembered!" Joy slapped her forehead, her grin spreading a little wider. "The moving van!" She quickly recalled a snippet of memory on the projector, just enough for Riley to consciously remember.
"Oh no, what if it didn't come!" Fear immediately started worrying. Anger and Disgust rolled their eyes in tandem, and Sadness looked at Fear pointedly. "Well, it's happened the last few times, hasn't it?" He called up a red and blue memory of the last time Dad had told them of a delay. That shook everyone just a bit. By this time, Riley was at her locker and beginning to pack for home.
"Well then" Anger said, beginning to grab his levers and make light manipulations, "let's just go find out!" He pushed Riley to pack up a little faster.
"Not so fast! We'll forget something!" Fear stabbed at a button, trying to slow Riley down. Anger started pushing a little harder.
"You want to wait longer to find out?"
"No! But we can't just rush off recklessly!"
"Says who?"
"I do!"
"So what?"
"Alright!" Disgust raised her voice, getting the bickering emotions to break death glares for a moment. "She's packed. Let's not run over our friends while you two argue!" Grudgingly, Anger moved away from the console, smoldering slightly and crumpling his newspaper. Fear started wringing his hands; he was over worrying about forgetting something, and was back to thinking about the moving truck. Disgust nodded, a little smugly, to Joy, who joined her in navigating Riley to the exit.
They made sure to farewell Riley's peers on the way; no need to be rude and undo Disgust's social planning. As soon as Riley got out the door, however, Anger and Fear leaped back to the console. Now, though, they had a single purpose: get home. Riley started to pick up the pace, getting to a jog. Joy joined in, not to be left out at such an important time.
Disgust objected, "Hey! Not so fast!"
"What's wrong?" shot Anger, "Afraid Riley'll get all sweaty?"
"Ha, ha. Get that off a gum wrapper?" Disgust shot back. Then, more sincerely, "What if she trips? And worse, falls into something?"
Fear jerked his hands off the controls. "You're right!" Riley slowed slightly, but still loped along at a fair clip.
"Trip on what? It's just the sidewalk! Besides, Fear can recover a trip; that's his job!"
Fear hesitated; then, with an apologetic glance at Disgust, resumed his input to the console. Sadness looked over to the short-term memory shelves and saw the latest memories were streaked all about with different colors like balls of yarn scraps, reflecting the anticipation and slowly ramping input from all the others. She moved to the console herself and started to tweak her controls; maybe she could smooth the others' input slightly. She was making progress, reducing expectations slightly, when a memory rose unbidden to the screen.
As the memory played out, the trailer of a moving truck opened to inky blackness.
"It's last night's dream!" Fear breathed, and started to work his controls faster. This was one of few times that a dream was scarier in daylight than while it was actually dreamed. Suddenly, as his fingers flew across his panel, he noticed something: his buttons were sticking! He stopped, glanced at the big screen. Riley was going a little too fast, a little too frantically. She might actually trip, and with his buttons stuck, he couldn't do anything! He started to try and free them, first gingerly, then pounding to maybe just move something. Riley was coming to the corner before she would be able to see her house. Fear despaired, and yelled over the cacophony which had risen: "HELP!"
Sadness was the only one who took notice, but thankfully, she knew what to do. She scanned her area, looking for specific control. "Oh, where is it? Where is it? There!" She reached toward the top of her panel and pulled a black lever with both hands. Immediately, the lights on the console dimmed for a moment, then Fear's keys unstuck.
Riley slowed to a halt just before she turned on to her street. She panted for a moment, then took a deep breath and collected herself. Either the truck would be there, or it wouldn't. What was she so worried about? Chuckling quietly to herself, she turned the corner and ran smack into a light pole. "Ow!"
"Well, that's what we get for celebrating too soon!" Disgust quipped, as soon as the emotions stopped cringing. Indeed, they had all been a little too preoccupied with congratulating Sadness for diffusing that situation, and no one was watching the peripheral vision. Fear was especially sheepish; he'd had such a good record going, too. Anger wisely kept quiet, though he still gave a quick jerk of his levers to help Riley berate herself to be more careful in the future. Disgust directed Riley to look in a window, using it as a mirror. "No blood, but we'll probably have a nasty bruise. Ugh, if only Mom let us use makeup I could fix that!" Disgust threw her hands in the air.
Riley rubbed her head, but after a moment she continued on her way. She saw two things immediately: first, there was no truck. Second, a stack of flattened cardboard boxes sat next to the porch. Ecstatic, she ran inside; her stuff had arrived at last!
