There were a lot of things that had changed for Riley ever since turning thirteen – some good, some challenging, some… really weird… but the one thing that had changed in an amazing way were her dreams, courtesy of the brilliantly creative minds over in Dream Productions (namely Paula Persimmon, now head of the studio) who were pumping them out night after night, and boy, were they something!

Dream duty had often been a slog for some of the emotions up in Headquarters – at least, for the core five Riley had started with – but with how captivating the plots of these dreams had become as of late (moving way past Mermaid Unicorn, though she was still a prominent feature of said dreams), they all seemed to bemoan not being the one who got to sit at the console and watch things unfold on the monitor throughout the night.

Sure, they had a whole new set of emotions to keep a balanced, rotating schedule, but if it wasn’t your night? Then you’d probably miss out on a really great dream.

Joy, however, being the leader of Riley’s emotions, always made sure everyone got their turn – and again, with the new emotions they had (led by Anxiety, who was doing a lot better now), she would often be able to pair up a couple to be fair… and to have more eyes on the console just in case. They didn’t want to risk another ‘sleepwalking’ emergency, after all.

For one of the newer emotions, it was their turn to man the console, though Joy could tell they were a bit uncertain in spite of being the emotion they were – which was fine, really! You didn’t have to align with your emotion constantly, after all. Joy could get upset sometimes, Sadness could be happy, Fear could be brave (or at least tried to be), and even Embarrassment had his moments… which would often make the big guy all the more embarrassed once he realized he was getting a little too enthusiastic, but still.

With that in mind, she offered to watch over things with them, mostly to help them get accustomed to their first night on dream duty… but also because she really wanted to watch tonight’s dream! She had her comfy pajamas on (green, of course – matching her dress!), a fresh bowl of popcorn, and they’d brought the couch over to sit and watch… yep, it was a slumber party now!

She stuffed another handful of popcorn into her face as tonight’s dream played on, which she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from. Tonight was yet another five-star dream, and she was happy to share it with her buddy who sat beside her, still looking a bit out of their depth.

Joy was quick to notice this, and she gave their side a gentle nudge with her elbow.

“You doing okay?” she asked. “If the dream’s too loud for you, I can turn it down a little, but it’s really nothing to worry about – we’ve been in Riley’s head for thirteen years. We’ve all adapted enough to be able to sleep through anything noisy.”

Her brow furrowed slightly after a beat. “Well… unless an alarm on the console goes off that we don’t know how to handle. Like when the five of you showed up after the old console was demolished on Riley’s thirteenth birthday. That was pretty loud.”

The perky yellow emotion then shook her head, brushing back her vibrant blue bangs. “This, though? This is like second nature to us. And honestly, it’s one of my favorite parts of the job. The others are kinda iffy about it, but I love staying up late to see what’s on, because you just never know what you’re gonna get! And hey, you know what’s even better? Having a good friend to watch them with!”

She playfully booped their nose with a wink. “That’s you, by the way.”

A soft laugh left Joy as she sat back on the couch, legs folded beneath her. “Seriously, you’ll get the hang of it. It’s super easy. When Riley’s asleep, all we need to do is sit back and make sure she gets that good night’s sleep. Interruptions don’t happen all that often, though. Riley’s usually a pretty sound sleeper.”

“If anything does come up, however? We’ll be on it in a flash.” she confidently assured them with a knowing smile. “Right, buddy?”