Intercom: Proper Communication
Author's note: I own nothing. I don't own Disney. I don't own Pixar. I don't own Inside Out. I don't even own the original Intercom story. And unfortunately, PotterPhantomKitten hasn't responded to any of my messages about doing continuations. Not even notes.
I don't presume to know all their plans for what would've happened in the story of Intercom. And I know that I can't help myself in having some concepts from Inside Out 2 as I go. Which of course wasn't released when the story was originally going to be finished. So this is more of a What-If than any definitive statement on what PPK would've wanted.
That being said, I am going to include as much from the original story and the notes from the 1 year anniversary talk back since this isn't a complete break from the story.
Chapter 1: Buildup to Disaster
Joy slowly came to her senses. Shaking her head, she felt like she'd just been put under a steam roller. And there was a sensation in her body that didn't feel good at all. She slowly opened her eyes, only to see a swirling mass of…well, she didn't quite know how to describe it.
It was like she was looking at a starry field of roses. Only, she was upside down, and the roses also looked like hockey sticks and there were vampires roaming around playing guitars and drums, and there were smiling faces floating about, and half fragments of color zipping around, and, and, and….
Joy shut her eyes for a moment. Trying to steady herself. "Ugh," she groaned. "How did we end up in a crisis like this Mom?" She let her mind wander over important memories that happened in just the last week since their intercom was accidentally broken.
"I wonder what's got her spooked?"
"Who said that?"
"Riley? Riley, we want to talk to you."
"H-How do you know my name? Who are you? WHERE are you?"
"We're…We're your emotions Riley. We're inside your head."
"Huh? You're…my emotions?"
"Yep."
"Emotions can't talk."
"Well we can. I'm Joy, your main emotion."
"How did I start hearing you all anyways?"
"There's an intercom in here that lets us talk with you as a 'voice in the back of your head'. Anger decided to do a hockey demonstration on it, and, well, here we are!"
"But I don't want to have it fixed….I want to know more about you guys. I mean, what's it like in there?"
"RILEY! IT'S YOU! It's you, it's you, it's you! It's you, and you're here, and…"
"It's a core memory!"
"But it's white."
"When I'm here, I don't need you guys to express emotions. The white core memories must be because I can express emotion on my own while I'm here."
Joy smiled. Everything had been so beautiful those first days and nights. Sure, there were parts that were…inconvenient when Riley became scatterbrained for renovations, but it was still fun being able to talk to and show Riley all the wonderful things they had in her own mind. To truly feel like Riley wasn't just someone they were watching over, but a real person to communicate with.
That caused Joy to frown. Thinking about how it all went downhill from there after they went back to school.
"Who's Disgust?"
"Is that idea bulb still plugged in?"
"Yes..?"
"Unplug it. Get it out of my head. Now!"
"I'm sorry Riley. We just wanted to help."
"I know. But it was my idea in the first place."
"You're Crazy."
"I'm not. I'm NOT."
Joy then felt herself choking up a little thinking about Monday night. It hadn't been easy when they told Riley the truth of what was going on inside her mind when they first moved.
"Joy? What are they talking about?"
"Remember when you moved to San Francisco? We had a lot going on in here."
"It wasn't your fault Riley."
"YES! IT! WAS! It was all my fault..It's…I shouldn't have run away…"
"I do feel mad at you…But I don't hate you."
Joy winced thinking about those words. Sure, Riley didn't hate them, but she clearly didn't trust them as much after that night. After all…
"Riley locked us out."
….
"I just wanted to try to do things my way today."
"I hate my life."
"Does that core memory LOOK like it can help Riley!?"
"Riley's locked me out no matter what I do, and with the Core memories gone it might just get worse. The least I can do is get back what she lost."
"Don't worry Riley. I'll do whatever I can to fix this."
"She wants to stay here, Joy. She wants to remain in her mind…forever."
"But the only way she could do that is if she…"
"If she never wakes up."
Joy really wasn't happy about what happened after that. Since she still had three more core memories to find by that point, she'd taken the rest of the night and into the next day as well to locate them all. All the while, she was forced to hear islands shake, watch the lights go in and out of the islands. See the sky darken or go gray at different times. It was even scarier than the first time she got separated from Headquarters with Sadness.
Then there was the confrontation that came the next night. Joy finally had the core memories she needed, returned to Headquarters, and confronted Riley about her secret plan in front of the other emotions. And that was when everything went so very wrong.
(Well, that's where we'll take a pause for now. I plan for the next chapter to be a full chapter flashback.
I admit there's a little bit of hand waving going on in terms of what does and doesn't happen between the end of the official Intercom and where I'm picking it up. I could've spent another few months trying to figure out where different parts of the story would go. But, I don't wanna. So, I'm going to jump ahead instead to something more than a cheat sheet for anyone who hasn't read Intercom before.)