Screw it I'm too impatient here you go.

Once upon a time...

Do you ever look at someone and wonder, "What is going on inside their head?"

Well, I know.

Well, I know Riley's head.

From a light came a tall, yellow figure with blue hair that reached his neck with a long strand in front and eyes, a blue glow coming from him and lighting up his spot. He looked around, unsure of what to do, then found a button on front of him. He gave it a push and heard a small laugh.

And there she was.

When he looked up, he saw a screen in front of him, displaying a man and woman in front of him.

"Hello...Riley."

"Look at you. Aren't you a little bundle of joy?"

A yellow orb rolled down next to him, stopping on the conveyor. He picked it up, watching the clip inside.

"Aren't you a little bundle of joy?"

"Whoa..." He put it back and let it roll, colors lighting up around him and the gears moving the orb down. The figure took in all the amazement and pressed the tiny button again.

It was amazing. Just Riley and me, forever...

He was taken out of his fantasy when he heard Riley begin to cry. Next to him was a shorter, stockier figure with glasses, who was pushing the button with both hands.

Well, for thirty-three seconds.

"I'm Sadness," she introduced gloomily.

"Oh. Hello. I...I'm Joi." He shook her hand, trying to push her aside, his hands on the button. "Can I just...if you could...I just wanna fix that, thanks." He pushed it again, turning the base yellow. It promptly turned blue again when Sadness pushed it.

And that was only the beginning. Headquarters only got more crowded from there.

-

At three-years-old, Riley went barreling through the house, a wagon flying behind her.

Fear strolled by the console, where Joi was controlling with Sadness next to him, looking over his shoulder. "Very nice. Okay, looks like you got this. Very good sharp turn AHH LOOK OUT NO -" He grabbed the levers and pulled them back, Riley coming to a stop to carefully step over the wires. "Easy...EASY AH...oh, we're good. We're good!"

-

Riley had stepped over, one foot at a time, carefully looking behind her.

-

A purple orb rolled down.

"Whew!"

"Nice job."

"Thank you, thank you very much."

"And we're back!" Joi took control again, the wagon getting caught in the wires and knocking the lamp over.

-

Riley was suddenly picked up and put in her highchair, bib on, table secured, and plate placed in front of her. Bill put her food on a spoon and moved it towards her mouth. "Here we go. Alright, open. Ahhhh..."

-

"Hm, this looks new," Joi observed.

"What is it?"

"Think it's safe?"

Another figure shoved her was to the front, hair full of volume and eyelashes ridiculously long. When she spoke, she sounded like a someone who had a crappy cartoon that nobody could give a shit about. "Okay, caution. There is a dangerous smell, people, hold on, what is that?" She leaned over to the screen, trying to make it out.

This is Disgust. She basically keeps Riley from being poisoned. Physically and socially.

"That is not brightly colored or shaped like a dinosaur...hold on, guys...it's broccoli." Gagging, she pushed a button, having to look away from the tiny green trees.

-

"Yucky!" Riley cried, throwing the food into Bill's face.

-

A green orb rolled down.

"Well, I just saved our lives," Disgust said, flipping her hair. Everyone else sighed in relief. "Yeah. You're welcome."

-

Bill patiently wiped the broccoli from his face and gently said to a pouting Riley, "Riley, if you don't eat your dinner, you're not gonna get any dessert."

-

A small red figured with a curved-in head looked up from his newspaper. "Wait. Did he just say we couldn't have dessert?"

That's Anger. He cares very deeply about things being fair.

He put the paper down on the couch and waddled over. "So that's how you wanna play it, old man?! No dessert?!" Lava began to bubble up on top of his head. "Oh, sure! We'll eat our dinner!" He pounded on the controls, then gripped the levels Fear had unwittingly pulled back for him. "RIGHT AFTER YOU. EAT. THIS. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH -" Fire came erupting from the dent in his head.

-

Riley began to scream, flailing her arms around, knocking over broccoli.

-

A red orb.

-

"Hey, Riley! Riley! Here comes an airplane." Bill flew the spoon to her mouth, trying to distract her.

-

"- HHHHHHHHHHH -" Anger stopped pulling, immediately calmed. "Oh. Airplane. We've got an airplane, everybody."

Everyone marveled at it as a pink figure came bouncing over and pressed a button.

-

Riley ate it, drumming her hands against her tray.

-

A pink orb.

This is Y/n. She came a little later. She's basically the part of Riley that will never grow up. We didn't really have a name for her, so we just called her Y/n, since that was the name of Riley's favorite doll. I still think we should've played with the name Peter, but she wanted a feminine name.

She's amazing, but...well, her energy can even rival mine.

-

Only a few years later, Riley would jump out of bed, Y/n in the foreground and would be controlling while Joi would make himself a cup of coffee. "Good morning, Riley!" she would gush as soon as she would wake up and would jump out of bed, running for the closet. "Oh, the rainbow sweater, the rainbow sweater!"

-

Riley would grab the rainbow sweater and would throw her pajamas on the floor, put it on, then go running down the stairs.

"Slow down, slow down!" Fear would try to direct. "Let's take a coat."

"No time! We gotta move!"

-

Riley would fling the door open, immediately eyeing the railing.

-

"Here we go!" She would crank a dial and Riley would go flying down sideways,

"Need a hand?" Joi would ask, coming over, and would push a button. "Wow, a whole day of fun! Who's excited?"

-

Riley would go skating down the sidewalk, grabbing onto a lightpost and swinging herself around it. Without getting dizzy, she would skate down the sidewalk to the park.

-

Yellow and pink memories would roll down. "Wow, that's a lot!" Y/n would cheer. Turning back, she would notice them at the park and would direct Riley to climb up the slide, then on the spinny ride, then the swings. "Faster! Higher!"

-

Leaving the park, Riley would skate in front of a window, dancing around, then go skating around the pond before stopping for a slushie. On her way home, she would stomp onto every puddle she came across and Y/n would copy all her movements, dancing and jumping alike. She worked skate through the leaves, kicking them up, feeling the wind in her face and the leaves falling all around her.

-

"What a day...let's do it again tomorrow."

[Future tense is hard 😭]

-

Back with her three-year-old self, the emotions left the control panel, including Y/n, who was getting out the glitter to decorate the console with. Joi and Sadness were the only ones left, Sadness looking up at the screen while Joi glanced at her, annoyed.

And you've met Sadness. She...well, she...

-

Riley held a ripped bear, crying to Jill about it.

-

Ice cream had spilled all over the floor and onto Riley, throwing her into a fit of crying.

-

Jill dragged Riley out of the supermarket while she screamed for something, reaching out.

-

Bill tried to buckle Riley in, only for her to thrust out and scream, wanting to get out of her car seat.

-

I'm...not actually sure what she does and, I've checked, there's no place for her to go, so...she's good, it's all good, everything's great.

Joi forced a smile at Sadness, who walked away. He let out an annoyed sigh, then ran to the shelf containing the different colored orbs.

Anyway, these are Riley's memories. And they're mostly happy, you'll notice, not to brag.

He took off a memory, showing Riley and her best friend, Meg, sliding down at the playground together. He rewound it to watch it again, hugging it tight. Putting it back, he ran over and pushed on a button on the ground, lifting up a holder, showing yellow and pink memories in them.

But the really important ones are over here. I don't wanna get too technical, but these are called core memories. Each one came from a super important time in Riley's life. Like when she first scored a goal? That was so amazing!

-

Riley hit at the puck, falling down, but saw it go into the net. Bill picked her up and Jill learned down, both of them cheering her on.

"Hey, would ya look at that? We got a future center here!"

-

And each core memory powers a different aspect of Riley's personality. Like Hockey Island!

Goofball Island is my personal favorite, even though it's not mine.

-

"Come back here, you little monkey!" Bill chased Riley around with a towel, who shrieked in laughter as she ran away and jumped on the couch, jumping around and dancing.

-

Yep! Goofball is the best! But if I had to choose one of mine, I'd probably say Friendship Island!

-

Riley and Meg, arms linked, walked together in perfect synch, laughing.

-

Oh, I love Honesty Island! And that's the truth! Not really sure how Y/n made it, though. Honesty isn't childish! It's admirable!

-

Next to a plate, Riley held up a hammer from behind her back, guilty.

-

And of course, Family Island is amazing.

-

The family decorated cookies together. Riley took one and shoved it into Bill's mouth, babbling.

-

The point is, the Islands of Personality are what make Riley...Riley.

-

"Look out, mermaid!" Riley called, diving under the water in the bathtub with a rubber shark.

-

Riley giggled as she climbed up a couch.

-

Y/n put a chip into a slot, making lava appear on the ground.

-

"Lava!" she yelled, jumping across to the chair.

-

"Who's your friend who likes to play? Bing-Bong, Bing-Bong..." Riley sang as she scribbled on the wall.

-

At six years old, Riley skated backwards around her parents.

"Hey! Very nice!"

"Where did you learn that?"

-

Joi and Y/n skated in synch, their arms linked together.

-

Both Riley and Meg were drinking from slushies, Riley having drunk it a little too fast. "Ahhh!" she cried, holding her head.

-

"BRAIN FREEZE!" Fear exclaimed as the ice began to freeze them over.

-

At a kids' hockey game, Riley scored the winning goal. "Yes!" she cheered.

-

"Yay!" Joi exclaimed, picking Y/n up.

-

"Goodnight, kiddo," Bill said, switching off Riley's light.

"G'night, Dad." She rolled in her back and closed her eyes, falling asleep.

-

"Aaaand we're out," Joi stated and danced around the memories. "Whoo! That's what I'm talkin' about! Another perfect day! Nice job, everybody! Let's get those memories down to long-term!"

Fear was checking his clipboard, letting out a sigh of relief. "We did not die today! I call that an unqualified success!"

"Y/n," Joi said, motioning to the lever. "Go ahead."

"Huh? Oh, of course, Joi!" She pulled it, making herself to smile. The memories shot out of the shelf and up a tube to be delivered to Riley's long-term memory. Joi ran out to watch, his face pressed against the glass.

And that's it! We love our girl! Oh, she's got great friends and a great house...things couldn't be better. After all, Riley's eleven now. What could happen?