A/N: I know this took a while to get up, but I went on vacation for a while and then the Internet was down at my house. I'll try to get updates a lot faster from here on out, so, onward!
Disclaimer: Cartunesluver17 and I don't own Inside Out. We together own the established world of Terracordis now and yet to come, but that's it.
Riley couldn't help but feel elated as she rode in the backseat of the car with Joy by her side, grinning broadly. Yet another great day once she got past that horrible morning, and just being around Joy brightened her mood immensely. Even the stares and whispers of other emotions became further from her mind now.
They drove past the labs, which caught the rays of the setting sun, and Riley involuntarily winced. Aggravation was probably in there, fuming and complaining to the others about her situation. She tried to put that thought out of her mind as soon as possible. She felt a hand on hers and looked over to see Joy smiling at her.
"I can't wait for you to see our house!" she exclaimed. "It's not quite as big as Disgust's so don't expect anything too fancy, but I'm sure you'll like it!"
Riley returned the smile in appreciation. Any place where these two lived was perfect in her eyes. She held her backpack close, clearing her throat a little. "Um, Delight?"
"Yes, Riley?"
"Am I gonna... you know... get to sleep over?"
Recalling her earlier discussion with Panic, Delight briefly turned to grin at Riley. "We're giving it a try tonight, and Panic's going to come by later for a check-up. If you do well tonight we'll try having you sleep here another night but occasionally return to the lab to be safe to get more tests." Her voice took on a much cheerier tone. "Aanndd, if you do well with that, then there's a chance you can properly move in with us!"
Riley got a look of glee on her face that warmed Joy's heart, her eyes widened in disbelief. "Really? I could stay?"
Delight chuckled. "Of course you can, sweetie."
"Forever?"
"Yes forever!" Joy exclaimed enthusiastically before her mom could say anything. She hugged Riley, a gesture that the part-emotion gratefully returned. The thought that eventually she'd have a home, a proper, permanent home, caused a warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest that she couldn't quite place. It seemed to be a similar kind of happiness to what she had felt on the Plutchik Wheel. A hopeful-happy.
But as they continued their drive, Delight's cheerful demeanor had lessened. Joy had affirmed to Riley that she could eventually stay with them forever. But she didn't know the full extent of the plans for Riley. She didn't know the exact purpose for why she was created.
She didn't know that, eventually, Riley would have to be sent away to that planet a dimension away from them.
And even if Delight hadn't sworn with the others to keep the plans purely confidential between the Council members and their spouses, having grown so close to the girl, she wasn't sure she'd have the heart to tell her daughter. Or her near-adoptive one.
When they finally pulled into the driveway, Riley couldn't help but have her eyes widen. The house had a golden-plated roof that was similarly shaped to the points of a star, and the pillars that lined the porch looked as if they had captured sunbeams in concrete and suspended them within. And their yard had a small playground too!
She stared, wide-eyed, after stepping out of the car, and the two emotions couldn't help but grin at the look on Riley's face. "This is where you live?"
"Sure is!" Joy beamed, unlocking the door. "Come on in!"
Riley stepped in after the pair, her eyes widening further as she beheld the interior. Their kitchen was covered in wallpaper of blue and yellow flowers, with a table big enough to seat Joy's family, her emotion friends, and Riley herself. A chandelier hung overhead in the next room, and as Riley walked in awe through the hallways, she noticed a staircase spiraling upward. "What's up there?"
"Oh, that's the bedrooms!" Joy chirped brightly. "The kitchen, living room, game room, all those are down here."
"And the bathroom's up there too if you need to use it," Delight offered helpfully, going over to the fridge. "Now, what would you like to—"
"What's a bathroom?"
Delight stopped short and slowly looked at Riley, and even Joy wore a look of complete embarrassment on her face. "... Huh?"
"What's a bathroom?" Riley repeated, completely innocent and utterly clueless.
"It's where you take a bath and—"
"What's a bath?"
Joy blinked at Riley, then looked at her mother with an expression of helplessness. She then turned back to her perplexed friend, who seemed oblivious as to why the emotion's face had turned red.
Joy put a hand on her forehead. This wasn't gonna be easy.
"... We really do have a lot to teach you."
Before going through the basics of teaching Riley about proper hygiene, Joy went through the bathroom and made sure everything was in its rightful place. Supplying toothbrushes in a cup and toothpaste on the counter, hiding away her pills—the last thing Joy needed was Riley seeing the pills and asking Joy or her parents what they were, likely thinking they were some sort of candy.
But once all those proper clean-ups were done, it was time to help Riley get ready for bed.
This was the first time ever Riley had worn something different other than that orange jumpsuit she had been "born" with. Joy had fitted her with a pair of yellow, flower-patterned pajamas that was one of her own. Because Riley was thinner compared to the yellow emotion, the clothes were a good deal looser despite their near-equal height. But she never felt more comfortable in her still growing life.
And she took notice of her own bare skin for the very first time, that was also new. Joy assisted her in the bathroom where she managed to give Riley her very first bath. The cool water made the younger girl shiver, but it was overall refreshing. And when it got warm, she never felt so relieved and relaxed as she stood under the shower nozzle. She didn't mind when Joy carefully soaped her face while standing outside the stall, a washcloth and scrubber at hand as she made Riley's first shower bubbly, a sensation that the girl at first found ticklish, but quite enjoyed once she got used to it. The shampoo was gooey and sticky on Riley's hair, and after washing it off her blonde locks became more slick.
Yet another new feeling. But a different category of feeling than those ones like "happy" or "scared".
She had been rather intimidated when Joy pulled out the hairdryer. For a moment, Riley thought it was some sort of lab technology that would actually hurt, seeing as its metal texture looked quite science-y to her. But the blast of air that hit her in the face—which admittedly caused her to cry out and stumble back at first—merely dried up her soaking body, drying her hair instantly. Her locks never felt more soft, and even bouncier that the "leverage" that could have been relevant to the way Joy's blue hair was made to stick up.
When it came to where Riley would sleep, she had assumed it would be in some other room with a nicer-looking container. After all, it was the only way of sleeping she had ever known herself, and couldn't imagine sleeping any differently. She recalled Joy laying on the floor back at the lab, but the only time Riley herself had been in such a position was when she had fainted. And that wasn't exactly comfortable.
Vertical-sleep was probably just a Riley thing.
But what Riley received, much to her surprise, was a plea from Joy to sleep in her room. After all, being around Joy seemed to be a great improvement to Riley's health already, and that way they would be the first thing to wake up to each other. It would be like a sleepover every night.
While Riley at first felt a little hesitant about sleeping in a horizontal position and hoped she wouldn't be dizzy, she quickly agreed. After all, she'd be next to Joy, so it couldn't be too bad.
When they reached Joy's room, Riley was blown away by the size and overall decoration it possessed. The walls were a lovely sky blue covered with plastic neon green stars, followed by various posters of Joy's favorite artists and celebrities. Her bed was incredibly large that it could fit at least three people in it, designed in a lush sunflower yellow with puffy pillows and a striped awning over it. And stuffed animals surrounding it.
Joy beamed, bouncing on her feet as she noticed Riley's reaction. She had hoped she would like her—their room, and the expression on her friend's face was everything she wanted.
"So what do you think?" she giggled. "Better than that container, huh?"
Riley was speechless, gazing over at the bed and bedroom itself with complete awe. No longer would she need to slumber with things attached to her body, or even have to find herself surrounded by a barrier that completely separated her from Joy. Instead she would be sleeping like any normal being...and with Joy right next to her given that she offered to share the bed.
This was definitely like a sleepover, but even better. And Riley had a feeling she would dream a lot better from now on.
"I...I love it..." she said, still in awe. "Joy, your room is amazing!"
"Oooh, I knew you'd like it!" the yellow emotion grinned. "We can do each other's hair, talk about how school goes, and even watch stuff on my computer."
She raced over to her desk where laid a laptop device that she immediately flipped open. Riley watched as she pressed a few buttons before a page popped up on the screen.
"We can watch TerraTube all night, even!" Joy exclaimed excitedly.
"TerraTube?" Riley repeated.
"Only the best online video-watching site on the whole Terracordian internet!" Joy gushed. "Heck, we could even make a video together and post it online!"
"Oh, yay..." Riley agreed, although she still had no idea what Joy was talking about. But she liked the idea anyway—she always liked Joy's ideas.
"I knew you'd like that!" her friend giggled. "Oh! I should really show you this awesome blunder someone posted last week! It got over a million views and you just can't stop laughing! I mean, seriously, it's so goo-"
They were disrupted by a musical tone that echoed through the room. Both Riley and Joy glanced over at a small, flat device that was a cell phone on the nearby dresser. At that moment Joy remembered a promise she made earlier.
"Oh, that must be Fear," she chuckled. "I said I'd call later and he must have thought I forgot."
Riley just nodded as Joy strolled over to it. Her friend gestured for her to use her laptop while she handled the call. While Riley curiously looked at what the internet was, still trying to figure out what it was supposed to be, Joy pressed the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" she sang.
She immediately pulled her head away as four voices boomed desperately on the other end.
Joy winced at the clamoring voices, hurriedly taking the phone off speaker. She turned and noticed Riley staring at her in confusion. "You keep looking, I gotta take this call for a minute, okay?"
"Okay..." Riley felt a bit curious as to the conversation that would ensue between Joy and the caller—likely Fear—but she didn't want to pry. Besides, this Internet stuff seemed kind of interesting.
With a grateful nod, Joy stepped out of the room so as not to disturb Riley. "Hey guys—"
"Joy, where are you?"
"We miss you!"
"You didn't forget about us did you?"
"What in the world is going on?!"
The barrage of questions—some gentle, some near-accusatory—threw Joy a little off-guard and had a twinge of guilt prick at her heart. Her friends likely thought she had abandoned them.
"Guys, guys," she quickly said, trying to calm them all down. "I know you guys all miss me, I miss you guys too! But I'm helping Riley to integrate more with the world—"
"Yeah, Disgust interrupted, her tone understandably bitter. "But it's like you never contact us anymore. For the past couple days it's basically as if none of us existed!"
Joy would be lying if she said that Disgust's words didn't hurt. They did a little. "Look guys, Riley's only been awake for a few days. I've been having her get used to the world, get ready for school—"
"WHAT?!" Four voices chorused the word in disbelief.
Joy cringed. She should have expected a reaction like this.
"Her?" Anger questioned in a tone that reminded Joy of his father when he wasn't especially angry. "Doesn't she have to be qualified?"
"I don't think she knows all that much," Sadness pointed out. "How's she gonna pass without knowing math and reading and stuff?"
"Mom and I are gonna train her!" Joy insisted, leaning against the wall. "We'll help her in any way we can!" She tried to adopt a more chipper tune as an idea came to her, a plea for her emotion friends to really get to know her new one. "Maybe you all can help and we can all hang out together!"
"But Joy—"
Joy felt a twinge at her heart at Fear's desperate plea. "I know you don't really like her, Fear, but she needs companionship. She needs friends, she needs people who will be there for her and people she can trust!"
"And you expect us to be those people?" Anger asked, his skepticism clear in his voice. "We're not all that fond of her and Fear gets nearly catatonic at the thought of her."
"I do not!"
"You guys have been my friends for almost as long as I can remember," Joy said with a firmness in her voice. "I know that you're reluctant to try to welcome someone else in our circle of friends but, well, Riley needs to be around people who aren't gonna just run some silly tests on her!"
She decided bringing up the argument with Aggravation wouldn't be the best course of action. "Are you guys busy tomorrow?"
"Nah."
"Not much."
"Have some stuff but I can squeeze plans in."
"Why?"
"Because," Joy said in response to Sadness's single-worded question, "tomorrow we can hang out."
"Well," Anger said, "it's about time—"
"All of us," Joy clarified. "Including Riley."
There was the start of a chorus of protests, but it fizzled our rather quickly. When Joy got adamant there was little that could be done, and Joy had become so close to Riley that it seemed as if they were inseperable. If they wanted to hang out with Joy again the next day, they'd need to factor the prescence of the human-emotion hybrid into it.
Somehow.
"... Fine," Fear finally responded with a sigh escaping his lips. "Tomorrow."
"Great!" Joy's mood was beginning to brighten again. At the very least, her friends were going to give Riley a chance. Reluctnatly, sure, but at least it was something. "Tomorrow in the park at 1 sound good?"
"Uh, sure—"
Joy was beaming to herself. "Great! Tomorrow at 1, then!"
"Yeah... great..."
An awkward silence passed between them before Sadness could be heard yawning on the other end of the line.
"You sound exhausted," Joy let out a small giggle.
"N-No I'm not..." Sadness immediately ended up proving her sentence false by yawning again mid-sentence.
"You guys should get some sleep," Joy said. "We all got a fun day ahead of us tomorrow!"
"Y-Yeah..." Fear coughed nervously. "So, uh... goodnight... Joy."
"Good night, Fear!" Joy said with her usual chipper tone, at least relieved that she had gotten through to them to an extent. "Good night, Sadness, Disgust, and Anger!"
"Good night," the others chorused, though it was more of a half-hearted goodbye.
As the call ended and Joy at least felt a bit more hopeful for the following day, she started to walk back into her room just as her mother came up the stairs. She was smiling, and Riley glanced up from the computer.
"Panic's downstairs," she said. "I convinced him to let you stay here now, though he said that if you start feeling weak or unstable in the middle of the night or during the day, we'll take you back to the lab and have you sleep in your container." Her expression was gentle. "That sound good?"
Riley grinned and nodded eagerly. "It sounds gre..." The word was interrupted by Riley opening her mouth in a yawn, her face scrunched up and her eyes fighting to stay open.
Delight chuckled lightly. "Someone's sleepy. Why don't you go downstairs to talk to Panic and then you two get to bed?"
"'Kay, Mom!" Joy practically skipped over and gave her mom a hug. "Thank you SO much for arranging it so Riley could stay here!"
"Of course sweetie. Anything to help her feel more comfortable."
Riley couldn't help but blush at the attention that she actually liked. A much preferable kind of attention than the towering disapproval Aggravation kept giving her as if it were a crime to want to experience life as a Terracordis-born did.
Joy and Riley followed Delight down the stairs to the main entryway, and there stood Panic wearing his white lab coat, carrying a black case that Riley hadn't seen before.
"Riley!" he exclaimed, hurrying over and checking her arm band. "Are you doing okay?"
"I feel fine," Riley said with a shrug, looking at her caretaker with a grateful smile. "Thanks."
"Still at full stability, good so far," Panic said carefully. He then placed his case on the table and opened it, pulling out a few items. These included a stethoscope, a headset to measure her brainwave activity, a small syringe, and what looked like a metallic stick.
Riley winced a bit at the coldness of the stethoscope against her chest, but based on Panic's murmurings whatever he heard seemed to be a good thing. The headset created a buzzing sensation in her head, and the stick that was waved around her to further examine her structural integrity was something she found almost dizzying from trying to follow it.
She flinched at seeing the needle of the syringe as Panic lowered it toward her skin, gripping Joy's hand instinctively. "W-What's that?"
"It's just a syringe, Riley," Panic said as gently as he could, carefully taking her other hand. "I need to make sure that your blood is still holding properly.
The part-emotion arched her brow at the unfamiliar term. "Blood?"
"It's like this liquid in your body that has these things to help heal you when you get sick," Delight offered helpfully.
"Oh..."
Wincing as the needle dug into her skin, Riley couldn't help but watch as the small container above the needle filled with some red stuff. The red color caused Riley to further cringe at the sight. Red made her think of Aggravation and how angry he got at her...
Panic gave her a sympathetic glance, gripping her hand to comfort her. "A lot of people get squeamish at the sight of blood, it's okay." Removing the needle, he cleaned the tip and placed it in a plastic bag before returning it and his other instruments to his case. The scientist bent down and beamed at Riley.
"Everything's checking out just fine so far."
His words caused the other members of the household to breathe a sigh of relief.
"If you need anything, anything at all, just let Delight know and we'll get you back to the lab pronto, okay?"
Riley nodded. rubbing her arm a bit from where the syringe had been. "O...Okay, Panic."
The purple emotion chuckled softly. "I better let you all get some rest. Hope to see you tomorrow!"
"See you tomorrow, Panic!" Delight called cheerfully.
With that, her colleague left, leaving the three to have the house to themselves once more.
Delight turned and smiled gently at the two girls before her. "He's right, you know." She gave each of them a hug, Joy embracing her mother enthusiastically while Riley reciprocated the hug after a few hesitant moments. She had to admit she liked this sort of close contact, especially having been in that container for so long.
After the pair went back upstairs to their now-shared room, Joy dimmed the lights and got into bed, snuggling into her blankets and looking at Riley expectantly.
Riley went over to the other side of the bed, pulling down the covers and getting in herself, laying her head on the pillow.
It was... different from her container. Very different. Her laying horizontal instead of vertical, some physical substance keeping her warm, and actually having some fluffy thing supporting her head rather than just the suspension energy.
But she did welcome the fact that there was no glass casing surrounding her.
She turned her body so that her eyes met Joy's, the emotion providing some illumination thanks to her very nature. She owed just about everything to this emotion. She owed her happiness, her experiences, her memories, actually being able to live life the way an emotion should... it was all thanks to her.
Joy grinned softly at Riley. "So? How does it feel?"
"Good... a little cold though..." Riley paused, trailing off a bit as she scooted herself closer to Joy, hoping the emotion wouldn't mind her approaching. She sure didn't seem to, as when Riley had moved closer her friend pulled her into a comforting hug.
Riley felt as if she were internally glowing. Being next to Joy and wrapped in her embrace was probably the most comforting feeling she had ever experienced this late at night—much better than her chamber—and she didn't want it to stop. Every moment she was with Joy filled her with life.
If she was going to live here, and have every day end with her and Joy just being close to each other and feeling like she truly belonged... that was good enough for her.
She smiled in contentment. "Good night, Joy."
Joy's entire body seemed to radiate with light in response. "Good night, Riley."
Riley rest her head on Joy's shoulder as her eyes began to close, her friend being the last thing she saw as she drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Well, things seem to be looking up for Riley, and we shall see what interaction with the other emotions will bring next chapter, which I intend to get up a lot sooner! Hope you enjoyed and please review!